MMTU takes Revenue & Settlement Dept to task
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 07 2024:
The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union has asked the Revenue and Settlement Department to clarify why they are not accepting the land allotment forms submitted by Meeteis who don't posses land pattas by giving myriad reasons.
MMTU, in a statement, claimed that the Revenue and Settlement Department is making the poor Meeteis sacrificial goats for their failure to discharge their duty.
The Revenue and Settlement Department needs to clarify why they are not accepting the land allotment form for not mentioning dag number and not attaching no objection certificate from another department, the Union demanded.
It further asked if all poor Meeteis who settle at khasland without any source of income are going to be counted as encroachers or trespassers.
What is the denotation of Right to Shelter and Right to Livelihood under Right to Life (Article 21) of the Indian Constitution if landless daily wagers who settle at khasland are going to be categorised as land grabbers or robbers, the Union further asked.
Urging the Government to start a survey of indigenous people who have no other means than to live at khasland and consider giving land allotment to them as soon as possible, the MMTU said that people not less than three lakhs will come out on streets and protest if their demand is ignored.
Asking why the Government is allegedly designating settlement areas as protected or reserved forests, the Union asked the Government to stop trying to evict people from areas where there is a history of settlement since aeons ago.
Corrective actions should be taken up for areas which were erroneously categorised as reserved areas after conducting a proper and comprehensive survey, the MMTU demanded.
The Union went on to state that the fisher community living in and around Loktak Lake should never be evicted in the name of development.
It is not the well off families who are living at khasland, the Union said and added that those living at khasland should be given a land patta and a place to live before carrying out any eviction drive.
The Union also asked all concerned to refrain from withholding land pattas and procrastinating land surveys to get some easy money.
MMTU further said that they have come across many people possessing fake or wrong land pattas and the same was discovered while trying to update and computerised the land pattas, the Union claimed and accused the Revenue and Settlement Department of neglecting their duties.
The Union continued that many forged land pattas which were 'sold' by the officials of the Revenue Department are in their hands and many others will also be collected.
Legal actions will be taken up once the collection of these erroneous land pattas is over, it added.
Lakhs of Meeteis were made landless due to the failure of the Revenue and Settlement Department to conduct the needed survey for years after MLR&LR Act was passed, the Union claimed and added that it is the responsibility of the Revenue and Settlement Department to conduct a survey at khasland and write a report on how these lands are being utilised.