Source: The Imphal Free Press
Thoubal, August 17:
Thoubal district has been administered without land record; for the last 16 years victimizing the general public and making the district administration sluggish in disposing land disputes and revenue realizations.
Land records were not available with the district authority since 1984 when the directorate of settlement and land records at Imphal had reportedly requisitioned the same for facilitating land survey and record updating works.
Official sources here confirmed that out of the 129 revenue villages in the district, the land records of only 35 villages were available with the concerned authority.
Villagers alleged that all these years, the former ministers and concerned-authorities did not want to transfer the land records to the district so they could continue manipulating the records easily at Imphal.
The unprecedented and unexplained delay in transfer of records has victimized the district residents while the district officials here are in complete darkness regarding the updated land records.
In the prevailing law and order situation, the people are the worst hit.
They have to travel upto Imphal just to get a copy of the updated land records of their lands for using specially in legal matters.
And they have to submit to the demands of the "settlement office" employees where even amin/mandals manipulate records easily.
The SDO/SDC posted in the district however can not attend to the grievances of the people.
For bailing out arrested persons accused of petty offences or no offences, updated pattas are required to be produced.
For this, the people have to get it from the "settlement office" at Imphal which proves to be difficult and expensive.
Now that the employees in "settlement office" are having a field day with the records meant to be kept in the district and directorate is probably reluctant to part with the records, revenue mobilization in the district has taken a back seat.
The Thoubal DC, T Pamei, agreed that in the absence of the updated land records, the work of revenue collection is near impossible.
"In such a situation, we can not identify the actual owners and to ask for revenue incurred", he said.
The survey work in the valley is reportedly almost complete.
If the MLR and LR Act is not extended to the hills, it is believed that there is little work to occupy the settlement officers at Imphal.
The DC suggested that assistant survey officers should be posted in the' district headquarters.
He also disclosed that he and other officers had reminded the authority at Imphal to transfer the land records earlier but he was yet to get any positive reply.