MIYC backs Lei Ingkhol residents
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 05 2025: The Manipur Youth International Centre has accused the Manipur Government of attempting to erase the historic Lei-Ingkhol village through authoritarian assaults.

MIYC, in a statement, stated that Lei Ingkhol is not an encroachment but a community built on resilience.

Claiming that the Government now seeks to uproot this entire ecosystem by branding its residents as illegal encroachers, the MIYC alleged that Lei Ingkhol is under siege.

The Youth Centre further claimed that the original land requirement for the High Court project was 20 acres, but it ballooned to over 49 acres, encroaching on Lei Ingkhol land without consent, clearance, or transparency.

Alleging that this expansion has been accompanied by a series of deceptions and abuses such as fraudulent surveys, false rehabilitation promises, sham compensation and intimidation tactics among others, the Youth Centre said that misrepresenting long settled residents as encroachers is unlawful.

According to MIYC, Lei Ingkhol was founded in the 1940s by individuals once ostracised due to leprosy and tuberculosis.

For the families of Lei Ingkhol, displacement would result in economic collapse, cultural disintegration, psychological trauma and ecological devastation from destruction of ponds, rivulets and natural slopes that sustain the settlement, it added.

Saying that they stand with the Lei Ingkhol residents, the Youth Centre urged the Government to stop all eviction, fencing and expansion at the locality and provide ownership rights to the villagers as lawful citizens.

It also urged the Government to investigate the alleged land scam, fraudulent surveys and sham compensation and engage in a transparent dialogue with the residents of Lei Ingkhol.

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