NIT Location Controversy
Unofficial ‘public hearing’ opposes NIT at Langol:
Imphal, Dec 19: An unofficial ‘public hearing’ on the controversial issue of setting up the proposed National Institute of Technology, NIT, at Langol was conducted in Imphal on Wednesday by an independent non-government fact finding team of rights activists from New Delhi, led by Dr. John Dayal, member of National Integration Council.
The ‘public hearing’, organised by the JAC for Protection of Residential, Agricultural and Wetlands, Langol-Lamphelpat and held at Shija Hospital junction, Langol, was attended by some 200 to 300 people, mostly those who would be affected if the NIT project goes ahead.
Speaking to the gathering, Dr Dayal expressed regret at the imposition of prohibitory orders in Imphal West district by the district administration ahead of the public hearing.
Under the Constitutional guarantee given by Article 19(i)(a) safeguarding the freedom of expression, people have a right to peacefully express their opinions and listen to others’ opinions, he said.
He stressed that the fact-finding team would furnish a factual report of the hearing to the Central government authorities, and not one composed of falsehoods.
Kim Gangte, ex-MP and chairperson of the JAC for Protection of Residential, Agricultural and Wetlands, Langol-Lamphelpat charged that state chief minister O Ibobi had misrepresented to the Central government that the people had given their consent to the construction of the NIT at Langol, and that compensation had been paid. She asked the gathering to make the true picture clear to the fact-finding team.
Brojen Sinam, vice president, JAC for Preservation of Lamphelpat as Wetland, recalled that repeated appeals have been made to the Ibobi Singh-led government by submitting representations, apart from numerous democratic protests including sit-in demonstrations and rallies, against the proposal for locating the NIT at Langol, but the government has paid no heed.
He argued that rather than using up scarce agricultural land for the project, consideration of less productive land wherever there is alternative will serve the interest of the state as well as the people who are critically depending on it.
Sinam also expressed concern over the concentration of development efforts in the valley areas to the exclusion of the hills.
One Langol resident, a widow, emotionally stated that she would not give up her land even onto death, as it was left by her late husband who had scrimped and scraped to buy it.
The panel conducting the hearing includes, apart from Dr John Dayal, Dr Shyam, national secretary, Independent People’s Tribunal, Albert Loyo and Medha Chand.
Source: The Imphal Free Press
Another Story:
Imphal, Dec 19: An unofficial ‘public hearing’ on the controversial issue of setting up the proposed National Institute of Technology, NIT, at Langol was conducted in Imphal on Wednesday by an independent non-government fact finding team of rights activists from New Delhi, led by Dr. John Dayal, member of National Integration Council.
The ‘public hearing’, organised by the JAC for Protection of Residential, Agricultural and Wetlands, Langol-Lamphelpat and held at Shija Hospital junction, Langol, was attended by some 200 to 300 people, mostly those who would be affected if the NIT project goes ahead.
Speaking to the gathering, Dr Dayal expressed regret at the imposition of prohibitory orders in Imphal West district by the district administration ahead of the public hearing.
Under the Constitutional guarantee given by Article 19(i)(a) safeguarding the freedom of expression, people have a right to peacefully express their opinions and listen to others’ opinions, he said.
He stressed that the fact-finding team would furnish a factual report of the hearing to the Central government authorities, and not one composed of falsehoods.
Kim Gangte, ex-MP and chairperson of the JAC for Protection of Residential, Agricultural and Wetlands, Langol-Lamphelpat charged that state chief minister O Ibobi had misrepresented to the Central government that the people had given their consent to the construction of the NIT at Langol, and that compensation had been paid. She asked the gathering to make the true picture clear to the fact-finding team.
Brojen Sinam, vice president, JAC for Preservation of Lamphelpat as Wetland, recalled that repeated appeals have been made to the Ibobi Singh-led government by submitting representations, apart from numerous democratic protests including sit-in demonstrations and rallies, against the proposal for locating the NIT at Langol, but the government has paid no heed.
He argued that rather than using up scarce agricultural land for the project, consideration of less productive land wherever there is alternative will serve the interest of the state as well as the people who are critically depending on it.
Sinam also expressed concern over the concentration of development efforts in the valley areas to the exclusion of the hills.
One Langol resident, a widow, emotionally stated that she would not give up her land even onto death, as it was left by her late husband who had scrimped and scraped to buy it.
The panel conducting the hearing includes, apart from Dr John Dayal, Dr Shyam, national secretary, Independent People’s Tribunal, Albert Loyo and Medha Chand.
Source: The Imphal Free Press
Another Story: