Faced with wastage of farm produce, Manipur villagers give up land compensation to fast track highway construction

The juicy pineapples, sweet papayas or the red-hot chillies grown by farmers in Manipur's Tamenglong district go waste every season due to lack of a proper road.

A four-lane highway to connect Tamenglong with Tausem, another town was approved "in principle" a few years ago but the dispute over land compensation was taking too much time for the government to start work.

Residents in at least 13 villages, however, have taken a significant decision to fast track the highway work by donating their land without claiming any compensation from the government. "The government would have required nearly Rs 100 crore to pay the land compensation for construction of the 85-km long and 30-meter wide highway. But I told the villagers that government is willing to construct the road but it may take years as land compensation disputes takes time and delays projects. After persuading them for some time, villagers finally agreed to give up their land without any compensation," deputy commissioner of Tamenglong, Armstrong Pame told DH over phone on Saturday.

The highway stretch is part of the Trans-Asian Highway project that seeks to connect Northeast India with Singapore and other South East Asian nations via neighbouring Myanmar.

"This is a very significant decision as disputes and court cases over land compensation for any infrastructure project is common anywhere. Normally, at least three years time is required to clear the land acquisition issues to start a road project like this. Between 2014 to 2018, the Centre spent 1.5 lakh crore for road construction but 80,000 crore of it was spent only for land compensation. So the decision taken by the government will save money and time for the government," Pame said. The villages which took the decision are Dailong, Tamenglong, Pabram, Phellong, Namtiram-I, Namtiram-II, Azuram, Charamba, Mandeu, Tousem, Phoklong, Katangnam and Katiang.

"This highway is going to be a game changer for the villagers, particularly the farmers. The pineapples grown here are very sweet and juicy. But most of them goes waste like anything as farmers can't take them to market due to lack of a proper road. Sweet papayas are given to pigs and chillies rot in the field," Pame said.

Another 14 villages in Dima Hasao district in neighbouring Assam too have taken a similar decision for construction of another 50-km stretch of the highway to connect Mahur (in Assam) with Tamenglong. "Once the road is ready, the travel time from Tamenglong to Guwahati (Assam capital) via Mahur in Dima Hasao district will significantly reduce. This will help farmers transport their goods and sell them in Guwahati too," he said.

The proposal has been approved by the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited and Manipur government is trying to make sure that the construction starts by January 2021.