Farmers oppose land acquisition bid
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 19 2015 : Farmers of Ningthoukhong Kha 43 and 44 of dag 1 and 9 strongly resented the step of the Department of Commerce and Industries to set up a unit for Technology for Fragrance and Flavour in the said area.

The area covers about 64 hectares of farmland which is presently used for plantation of rare and indigenous tree species.

From the said land the State Government has issued a notification to acquire 30 acres from the farmland to establish the unit of Technology for fragrance and flavour.

However, farmers of the area have strongly reacted against such steps and informed media persons in a press meet held today at Manipur Press Club that farmers have been paying premium fees to the department concerned for the last many years and such sudden step to acquire the farmland is very unfortunate.

Secretary of Khudithiba Loukol Macha Ibema Sericulture cum Horticulture Multipurpose Co-operative Society, M Ibohal maintained that before the State was merged into the Indian Union, the land was declared as a farmland by the then king of Manipur Maharaj Bodhachandra.

In 1984, the then Revenue Minister of the State Khundrakpam Phunilkanta detached the farmland from the forest reserve area of Sadukuroi and was allotted to farmers with all necessary documents of land holding rights.

Until recently on June 9 of 2014, the SDC of Bishnupur gave away the said 30 acres of land to the Commerce and Industries Department without taking any prior consent of the land owners and challenged the farmers of their rights, he alleged.

The DC of Bishnupur also declared the farmers as 'trespassers' and such action must be condemned by everyone, he added.

He added that the SDO of Bishnupur issued a land eviction notification on September 10 where farmers have to give up their land within ten days.

Such harsh step should not be repeated by the department concerned and the farmers are not ready to give up their land, he maintained.

The farmers are well prepared to take up legal action against the State Government for such action, he warned.

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