Appeal State Govt to intervene
Wokha, November 9 (MExN): A conglomeration of 17 land affected villages of the Doyang Hydro-Electric Plant (DHEP), under the aegis of Land Owners’ Union, DHEP, Doyang, has said that the Government of India’s move to disinvest 100 percent of its shares in NEEPCO Ltd to the National Thermal Power Co-operation Limited (NTPC Ltd) was a “breach of trust” and against the interests of the landowners.
“This unilateral decision of the Government of India clearly violated the agreement signed between the three parties (Government of Nagaland, NEEPCO Ltd and the Land Owners’ Union, DHEP) for a period of 99 years lease,” it said in a press release on Tuesday. It also pointed out that the disinvestment was carried out “without the knowledge and consent of Government of Nagaland and the stakeholders of Doyang Hydro-Electric Plant.”
According to the Union’s President Rhanbemo Odyuo and General Secretary P Roland Ezung who issued the release, a Tripartite Agreement for setting up the DHEP was signed between the Government of Nagaland, the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO Ltd), and the land owners of the area. With a capacity of 75MW (3x25 MW), the DHEP was set up with the objective to augment the power needs of the state and accordingly, it was commissioned in the year 2000 and dedicated to the nation on March 2, 2002.
However, after harnessing the power by NEEPCO Ltd for 44 years, meeting the needs of the ‘power starved State of Nagaland,’ the Government of India disinvested 100 % share of NEEPCO LTD to NTPC Ltd for an amount of Rs 4000 crore in March 2020 without the knowledge and consent of Government of Nagaland and the stakeholders of DHEP, the Union alleged.
Maintaining that the GoI’s move violated the Tripartite Agreement, the Union stated that the Government of Nagaland and the land owners of the 17 land affected villages had a number of negotiations to arrive at a decision to set up the DHEP and handing it over the NEEPCO Ltd (A Government of India enterprises) through an agreement of land acquisition signed on February 28, 1984 with an area of 8,420.41 acres of land.
NTPC Ltd disinvestment policy impinges Article 371 A
The Union underscored that the land affected villages of DHEP had agreed to part with their cultivable land solely for the development of power project of NEEPCO Ltd, “and not to any Corporation or private agencies.” However, with the disinvestment, the NTPC Ltd, also a GoI’s enterprise, has set a target with the Ministry of Power, Government of India to generate Rs 15,000 crore by disinvestment plan, which includes disinvestment and privatisation of NEEPCO Ltd by March 2024, and along with it, the Doyang Hydro-Electric Plant.
“Therefore, such drastic and adverse policy of disinvestment and privatization of NEEPCO Ltd by NTPC Ltd will directly impinge on the rights, privileges, employment opportunities and other benefits that are offered to the land affected populace in lieu of the thousands of acres of land handed over by the affected land owners for the construction of Power project,” the Union maintained.
To drive the point home, the Union further asserted that, “The land and its resources are the inalienable rights of the local people as invested upon the people of Nagaland by the unassailable constitutional provision envisaged under Article 371 A. Thus, the disinvestment policy enunciated by the NTPC Ltd (Government of India enterprise) shall impinge on the rights as guaranteed by above article.”
Presently, appointment and engagement of ‘local employees’ of the DHEP are mainly as a compensatory appointment against the loss of our cultivable land for construction and establishment of Doyang Project, it added.
In this context, the Union strongly objected and demanded that the NTPC Ltd rescind the disinvestment/privatization of Doyang HEP, to safeguard the signed Agreement and the rights and welfare of the land affected villages.
Stating that it is against the ‘interest and a breach of trust,’ the Union urged the State Government—being one of the stakeholders and the guardian of the state’s welfare, to impress upon the appropriate authorities of GoI against selling/divestment of DHEP to any private entities, as per the Tripartite Agreement.
