Imphal, July 30: The Committee on Land and Natural Resource constituted by various Naga NGOs and anti-dam groups today reiterated their demand for scrapping the Tipaimukh project.

The committee comprises the United Naga Council, the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights, the All Naga Student Association, the Manipur and Naga Women Union, Manipur.

The committee, the Citizens Concern for Dam and Development and the Action Committee against Tipaimukh Project said in a joint statement: “Tipaimukh dam should not be constructed without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples of all affected peoples in Manipur, Mizoram, Assam and Bangladesh along the Barak River.”

The groups’ renewed demand for scrapping of the project came on the eve of a proposed visit by a parliamentary team from Bangladesh to the project site at the tri-junction of Manipur, Mizoram and Assam.

The Bangladeshi team arrived in Delhi yesterday and is expected to visit the dam site tomorrow.

The state power department and the Churachandpur district administration have sent officials to Tipaimukh to explain about the project to the visitors.

Sources here said the army and the Assam Rifles have been deployed around the site in view of the proposed visit by the foreign dignitaries.

The Hmar Peoples Convention (Democratic), which is very active in the area, is also strongly opposed to the construction of the dam.

“We would also like to express our condemnation to the environmental clearance accorded by the Union ministry of environment and forest despite the affected people’s opposition during public hearings,” the groups said in the statement.

It said the Tipaimukh dam to be built over Barak, an international river, is now resisted from all sides, upstream and downstream. The continuing resistance demands abandonment of the dam.

“CCDD, COLNAR and ACTIP will continue to fight against forceful damming of Barak river, we will defend against forceful dislocation of our peoples, resist any attempt to disregard and sacrilege our culture, economy and identity,” it said.

Any form of compensation, compensatory forestation or other benefits could not replace what had evolved over generations, they said.

On the visit of the parliamentary team from Dhaka, the statement said the organisations welcome them as representatives of our neighbour. “We would respectfully urge them to desist from any unilateral agreement with India. By agreeing to this dam, impacts on the downstream in Bangladesh, Assam, Manipur or Mizoram will not go away. We will continue to work with our friends living downstream to stop this dam from coming up,” the groups said in the statement.