Meet to resolve land dispute held
Source: Hueiyen News Service / NNN

Imphal, September 20 2014 : A huge public meeting was held on Saturday at Andro to find a peaceful solution to a land dispute that has emerged between villages of Andro and Sandang Senba Maring in Manipur' Imphal East district.

Representatives of 16 local clubs and various women organisations attended the meeting which called for peaceful end to the land dispute, Andro village chief Chingakham Gandhar said at a press meet.

The village chief claimed that the Maring people are not the original settlers of Andro, but the Kabuis allowed them to shelter them as they were refugees in distant past.

He claimed that the villagers of Sandang Senba hired some residents of neighbouring Uchol village and dishonestly fell trees at Salot hill on August 8 this year.

public meeting held at Andro

The Uchol village was fined Rs 15,000 as compensation for the incident; Gandhar recounted, but insisted the authority of Sandang Senba was still refusing to settle the conflict with his village.

He said that notwithstanding his repeated appeals, the authority of the Maring village declined to resolve the matter till date.

Gandhar urged the village authority to stop causing communal tension and rubbished the allegations made by the Northern Maring Elders' Forum that the inhabitants of Andro encroached upon 300 acres of land belonging to the Sandang Senba Maring village.

Meanwhile, Maring Uparup Assembly (MUA), an apex body of Maring tribe, has strongly condemned the alleged encroachment on the land of Sandang Senba Maring village by villagers from nearby Andro.

In a statement, president of MUA Ch Angkham said that Sandang Shenba Maring village has been in existence along the Baruni hills since the time of British rule in Manipur without any dispute with the people of the neighbouring Andro village.

So, the apex body of the Maring tribe strongly condemned the act of around 3000 armed people from Andro village who came to Chaphu Uppi and Chonga Loukon which are within the jurisdiction of Sandang Senba Maring village and claimed that the areas belong to Andro on September 17 .

The incursion by the villagers of Andro within the boundary of Sandang Senba Maring village is unfortunate and MUA takes the matter seriously.

There can be no compromise on the matter.

Instead of inviting confrontation, villagers of Andro should respect the inter-village boundary and MUA would not remain silent spectator if anyone tries to encroach upon the land of Sandang Senba Maring, Angkham said.