"Evicted families allotted land by ex-PM"
Source: Chronicle News Service

Thoubal, June 13 2022: Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president and Wangkhem MLA K Meghachandra said that the 69 houses evicted by the government from Waithou Protected Forest area were allotted land by the Central government during the time of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The MLA along with MPCC leaders visited the relief centre set up at Lilong Haoreibi College Boys' Hostel and met the displaced families on Monday.

Interacting with the media at the relief centre, Meghachandra said that the evicted families were allotted land plot under the Twenty Point Policy Programme during the tenure of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975.It is unfortunate for the government to term them as illegal encroachers and evict them by using brute force, he said, while terming the act as an inhumane approach on the part of the state government.

He also questioned the reason for not taking up any action against the SDC, SDO, DC and revenue commissioner under whose authority the land plots were allotted if the government justify its act as a legal approach.

The eviction was a clear example of misusing power in the name of enforcing rule of law, he said.

He also strongly condemned the revenue department for not informing the land owners when the department cancelled the land ownership documents stating that instead of informing the same to the land owners and giving them ample opportunities to approach the right forum the department forwarded a communique to the forest department to initiate the eviction drive.

He alleged the government of violating the right to life and right to seek justice by evicting the land owners using government machineries.

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