TSA submits memo to PM denouncing smart city plan
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, November 28 2014 :
Thadou Students' Association (TSA), General Headquarters, Imphal has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi denouncing the reported acquisition of 3000 acres of tribal land for setting up of a smart city at Moreh (Haolenphai) in Chandel district.
According to the memorandum, Haolenphai is a Thadou-speaking Kuki tribal village situated about 6 kilometres south of Moreh, a commercial town along the Indo-Myanmar border, 116 kms east of Imphal.
Thadou tribe, which is one of the Kuki tribes, is one of the over 30 scheduled tribes of Manipur.
Haolenphai village is inhabited by about 100 households/families and neighboured by other tribal villages.
The villagers are dependent on the land and forest for their livelihood and the meaning of their life is embedded in their land, culture and the environment.
It has been in the media since 2013 in relation to the Manipur State Government's plan to acquire the village land for the purpose of the previously proposed 'New Commercial Township' and the currently proposed 'Smart City' by the State Government since the announcement of 100 smart cities in India by your Government in New Delhi as an ambitious national project.
The indigenous Kuki traditional land law strictly prohibits selling of homeland, regardless of the size and area, to anyone outside of the community, including any government, under any circumstances and this has been practiced and maintained at all times.
According to this land law, the Village Chief is the care taker and 'chief protector' who acts as the 'guardian angel' of the land and the villagers.
As such, the Chief has no authority to sell the land or gift to any other people except within the family/community.
History more than sufficiently testifies to the Kukis' allegiance or faithfulness to this land law even in the worst case scenario before, during and after the British colonial rule, the memorandum said.