 |
| People take out a procession against the project in Imphal East. File picture |
Imphal, March 20 : Stiff opposition from farmers and landowners has forced the Okram Ibobi Singh government to shift the ambitious industrial hub project for the second time.
The Ibobi Singh government had selected the prime agricultural land at Chingarel Tejpur in Imphal East to set up the Rs 500-crore project last year. However, farmers and landowners of the area rose as one against the project.
Earlier, the state government chose Napet Pali, also in the same district, for the industrial hub but it had to shift the project at Chingarel Tejpur following opposition from farmers and landowners there.
Industries minister Yumkham Erabot Singh today admitted on the floor of the House that the government was reviewing the decision to set up the hub at Chingarel Tejpur and it was looking for an alternative site.
“It was previously decided to locate it at Chingaren, but the decision is now under review,” the minister told the Assembly replying to a question from Opposition member Ng. Bijoy Singh.
The decision to relocate the project came after the nearly 30,000 farmers and landowners from more than 10 villages had threatened to boycott Lok Sabha elections if the government failed to pull out of the project from their agriculture land.
The farmers also threatened to shed their blood to protect their land.
At a meeting held on February 7 the farmers asked the Ibobi Singh government to move the project or face boycott of Lok Sabha elections. Almost all the civil society bodies based in the valley have supported the farmers’ opposition to the project.
Responding to a demand for setting up of the hub on non-agricultural land, Erabot Singh said he would try not to touch agricultural land this time, but added that if enough land was not found the government would have to use some agricultural land.
“There is no forest land in the valley. There is hardly any empty non-agricultural land in the valley area. So we will have to use some of the agriculture land while setting up of the project,” the minister said.
Conceived in 1999, the project complete with school, playground, canteen, healthcare facilities and shopping centres requires 215 hectares of land.
The Centre gave its approval in the same year. Initially the project cost was fixed at only Rs 3 crore.
But now it has escalated to Rs 500 crore.
The minister said some MLAs offered land in their constituencies for setting up of the project. He said no site was selected till now. “We will have to look into feasibility of the project site,” he said.