KSO CCpur claims
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 24 2023:
The Kuki Students' Organisation (KSO) Churachandpur District has claimed that K Songjang village was established within the scheduled boundary of Kungpinaosen village, not within Churachandpur Khoupum Protected Forest.
Notably, the Government carried out an eviction drive at K Songjang village on February 20.A statement issued by the student body said that Kungpinaosen village is a recognised village under SDO Henglep sub-division, Churachandpur district with a well defined scheduled boundary.
Kungpinaosen village was recognised even before the constitution of the Churachandpur Khoupum Protected Forest in 1966 and there are many supporting documents to prove the same, it said.
It then alleged that the demarcation of Churachandpur Khoupum Protected Forest within the scheduled hill area of Churachandpur district was arbitrary and illegal.
Since the scheduled hill areas are the subject matter of the Hill Areas Committee (HAC), the matter should be deliberated by the HAC comprising elected tribal MLAs before any decision is taken by the State Government, the student body said.
It went on to allege that the Churachandpur Khoupum Protected Forest was constituted without proper enquiry and notification and without the knowledge and consent of the affected village chief or land owners as laid down in section 29(3) of the Indian Forest Act 1927 .
The State Government's act of initiating a process for the village chiefs to produce legal documents before the officials of the Forest Department to stake claim of their rights for settlement within the protected forest is nothing but a trap.
There is no such protected forest as claimed by the Government, it said.
Existence or recognition of villages, whether new or old, is done by the Government.
Hence, terming legally established and recognised villages as encroachers is unacceptable and misleading, the KSO Churachandpur District asserted.
Demarcation of scheduled hill areas for the constitution of Churachandpur Khoupum Protected Forest is an encroachment of scheduled hill areas and violation of section 29 (III) of Indian Forest Act, 1927 and various land laws by the Forest Department, Government of India, it added.
It further demanded that the Forest Department's alleged illegitimate procedure for constituting reserved forest and protected forest should be stopped once for all for the cause of justice, instead of making false statements and spreading hatred amongst different communities.