The purposed objectives of the dam have not been fulfilled since its construction. The dam remains defunct till today. Watergate including the left and the right canals are not working. Ironically water from the spillway flows below the paddy fields.
By Kishorchandra Wangkhemcha
Approximately 80 km from Imphal along the Tongjei Maril Road lies scenic Khoupum valley in Noney District Manipur. Khoupum dam located in the valley is the first earthen dam in North East India.
The Foundation of the dam was laid in 1978, completed construction in 1978 at the cost of Rs 1.98 crore and was commissioned in 1982. 530 m long and 17.11 m high Khoupum dam is a spillway structure built on Machendui River inundating 83.75 hectres of arable land.
The sole objective of building the dam is to provide irrigation to around 600 hectres of land for double cropping. The purposed objectives of the dam have not been fulfilled since its construction. The dam remains defunct till today.
Watergate including the left and the right canals are not working. Ironically water from the spillway flows below the paddy fields. Khoupum dam proves to be a complete failure. It has become obsolete. However, a huge amount of public money is still spent on the dam.
There are around 17 staff employed as per the sources. The promise of dual cropping remains a pipe dream as complaints of making the dam functional time and again have fallen into deaf ears.