Waithou encroachment case affront to anti-graft vow
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 25, 2022 -

Having personally encountered how some portions of the Waithou reserved forest area have been levelled and houses constructed at the same site amid the on-going National Highway-2 expansion works, there is no valid reason why chief minister N Biren Singh should fret from initiating immediate eviction drive and order investigation to identify and penalise department officials found aiding unauthorised settlement.

Reports of encroachments on government lands and reserved forest areas in different parts of the state have been cropping up periodically subsequently resulting in the government authorities carrying out eviction drives.

In most cases of encroachments, the illegal settlers make it a point to resist the eviction drives and approach the court of law to stall the process.

With the legal process generally entailing exhaustive arguments and frequent postponement of hearing, many cases pertaining to eviction drives continue to drag on.

For instance, some 4-5 buildings along the Nagamapal-Khoyathong road still standing right in the middle of the road like a sore thumb years after the previous government carried out road expansion work and paid compensation to the affected house owners, indicates how lengthy legal proceedings could throw a spanner in the government's endeavour to undertake development projects.

Whether it is the Forest , Department or the Public Works Department, against which petitions are filed in the court in connection with eviction drive, the general practice is that the encroachers are served eviction notice days or weeks ahead of the imminent government process but still face stiff resistance as some of the suspected illegal occupants are found in possession of land documents.

For project-related eviction drives, the government gives due compensation to the affected citizens, despite isolated cases of some rejecting the monetary offer on the ground that the amount is not compatible with market value of land or owing to the notion that the land value would spiral if specific cases drag on for some more years.

However, in case of the Waithou episode there seems to be no foreseeable reason for individuals behind the house construction getting hold of the land documents, if there were no nexus between the district administration and the settlement department with the individuals concerned.

As the site where the houses are being newly constructed was a hill range earmarked as reserved forest area, there is no way one could possess land document other than some corrupt officials manipulating the system in exchange with material gratification.

As such, it is high time that the government probe into cases of individuals allotted land for habitation or commercial outlets in reserved forest area or any other sites which the government have already acquired for infrastructure development projects.

Along with carrying out eviction drive against illegal encroachers, it is imperative that the government teach a befitting lesson to the corrupt officials so as to avoid getting entangled in legal matter which would ultimately hinder developmental works.

The Waithou case, in particular, merits prompt intervention and swift punitive measures so to ring out the message to officials habituated to the act of commission and omission that the government has firm resolve to enforce its policy of zero-corruption.