Lamka, July 14 2010: Twenty-nine tribal chiefs of Churachandpur district who are within the purview of the appalling census overlapping villages submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister for his personal intervention alongside a robust recorded facts capable of sending any official scurrying for shelter.

Revealing for the first time that enumerators from Bishnupur had indeed, in tune to the foul cry of many, conducted the Census 2011 in villages that were previously under the hill administration, the memorandum said, they were shocked that such attempt was made without taking them into confidence.

Such 'secret operations' have created confusion and causes overlapping or double entry in the census operation 2011, they said.

"This (secret operations) defeated the very principle of conducting census in the country and violates its objective", alleged the memorandum that claimed that most of their villages were established before independence and that they have been part and parcel of the Manipur Hill administration since 1947 .

"We never surrender our land to any Government nor received the mandatory compensation for implementation of the so-called MLR&LR Act, 1960 or the Acquisition of Chief's Right Act.

Today, the land belongs to us, unlike the Maharaja of Manipur who signed a merger agreement pensation from the Government of India, and we will never exchange our age old tribal land with money under any circumstances", declared the tribal chiefs.

"When colonial administration introduced regular land revenue system in the valley, it only introduced hill house tax and refrained from imposing any land tax in the hills", they added.

On manipulation of the district boundaries, the chiefs insisted, the fact that few pattadars in the periphery pay land revenue to nearby valley district for convenience is not enough reason to change hill district boundary.

"To effect changes in the hill district boundary or the autonomous district constituency boundary, the permission of the ADC and in 1949 and received comapproval of the Hill Areas Committee is required.

What on earth! When and under what circumstances did the Director of Census Operation, Manipur or the Commissioner (Revenue), Government of Manipur is authorised to alter the hill district boundary", asked the chief in their representation.

Imploring the Chief Minister to kindly cancel all ongoing census conducted by officials from outside the hill district and give necessary instruction to the concern authority for keeping all their land records to their respective hill district headquarters, the chiefs also made a point to denounce the census data secretly collected by officials deputed from the valley district.

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