Forgotten Jessami reels under Govt apathy
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 26 2019: The State Government's inaction on the long standing land dispute between certain villages of Jessami sub-division in Ukhrul district and Nagaland has led to the development of a sense of alienation in the minds of the villagers of Jessami and its adjoining villages.

The resentment of the villagers has been heightened even more by the severe lack of basic amenities and other facilities in the area.

Located at the border with Nagaland, Jessami and its adjoining villages are almost completely devoid of administrators, schools with proper and requisite facilities, proper transportation facilities, medical facilities and other basic amenities.

During a visit to the subdivision by a joint team of Preservation and Protection Committee, Manipur (PPCM), Haomi Research Guild, International Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA) and a few select media persons on February 23 and 24, as part of PPCM's initiative called "Hingminnashi Eikhoi", the villagers decried the apathy and incompetence of the Government when it comes to the sub-division which is situated around 190 kilometres from Imphal.

Forgotten Jessami reels under Govt apathy

According to the villagers, life in the villages of the subdivision has always been a matter of enduring the appalling situations and hurdles which range from the chaos of land disputes with villages of Nagaland to the embarrassing lack of even the most basic amenities.

Jessami Village Council chairman Nizote Mekrisuh asserted that the villagers of Jessami sub-division, particularly the villagers of Jessami village, Sorophung and Wahong, have been yearning for State Government's intervention on the land disputes so as to bring an amicable solution with the Nagaland Government.

He explained that Jessami village has land disputes with Nagaland's Melori, Lephuri and Metikhru villages, while adding that the land dispute between Sorophung village (Manipur) and Kanjang village (Nagaland) and the land dispute between Wahong (Manipur) and Kanjang has turned very bitter in recent times.

Recounting that 27 huts in Sorophung village were allegedly burnt while several villagers were brutally assaulted in due to the border dispute, he continued that a large portion of Sorophung village is currently being occupied by outsiders after they chased out the original land owners.

Informing that the villagers on the Nagaland side are well protected by the Village Guards (VGs) deployed by the Nagaland Government, he asserted that the Administrators, including Additional District Commissioner (ADC) and Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) of Nagaland usually instantly arrive whenever a conflict arises at the border.

He then lamented that in the case of Manipur, the villagers in Jessami sub-division lack protection and support from the Government.

Even the SDO, who is also supposed to stay in the SDO/TD Block office located in Jessami village, stays at the office of Ukhrul DC and runs office from there, he claimed.

This has created lots of inconveniences for the people in Jessami sub-division, especially when it comes to urgent matters like sudden occurrence of unwanted incidence in the border.

Villagers of Jessami have to wait for the SDO to come from Ukhrul District Headquarters, which is around 118 kms away from the village, he lamented.

The villagers have to travel to Ukhrul Headquarters for even minor affairs like obtaining documents or for taking the SDO's signature.

This not only makes the poor villagers spend huge amount of money but also consumes a lot of time, which are quite important for the villagers most of whom live from hand to mouth, Nizote Mekrisuh added.

The other grievances the villagers highlighted were the lack of appropriate infrastructure and prerequisite equipment, including a science laboratory in the Government Higher Secondary School, Jessami, which is the only reliable State Government educational institution in the village.

Due to the absence of science laboratory, students studying in the school are forced to go to Higher Secondary School, Ukhrul for practical classes for class XI and XII.

Owing to the lack of infrastructure and equipment, students who admitted in the school no longer prefer science stream even if they love like science, he said adding that the students also face shortage of teachers and staff, apart from failing to get any benefits of RTE like regular Mid Day Meal and safe drinking water facility.

Many other villagers also complained that the absence of banks and post offices in the sub-division has caused extreme inconveniences to the people living in Jessami Sub-Division as they have to go to Ukhrul whenever they need to do any money transaction, and for any other purposes like NREGA scheme.

Inaccessibility to adequate medical facilities which forces the villagers to rely on the hospitals located at Nagaland's Phek district or in Melori sub-division, when they fall ill or for child delivery cases, is again an inevitable part of life for the villagers of Jessami village and many other villages in Jessami Sub-Division.

The hard life for the villagers does not end here as proper transportation facility in the villages still remains a far cry even today.

The Manipur State Transport (MST) Bus Service, in its initiation phase, gave them a ray of hope with two buses servicing vice versa along Imphal-Jessami.

However, the Government initiative eventually ended with only one bus operating currently along the route and that too on alternate days, he added.