Give patta to landless Meiteis : MMTU
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 04 2024: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has once again urged the Government to formulate a policy to provide land patta (document) to the landless indigenous Meeteis and send recommendations to enlist Meetei/Meitei in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list of the Indian Constitution.

MMTU, in a statement, said that several Meetei families who were born and brought up in Manipur have been living in the State like refugees without possessing any land documents since the last many years.

The fate of indigenous Meeteis is uncertain as they, despite being called the majority community, are now being attacked by illegal immigrants thereby rendering thousands of people homeless, the MMTU added.

Claiming that several Kukis who intruded into Manipur have now set up several unauthorised villages across the State and claim the villages as their ancestral land, the Union claimed that these illegal immigrants have also robbed the right of the Meeteis to be Scheduled Tribe.

The elected Government and the Forest and Revenue Department remaining silent over the issue is very unfortunate, it said.

Asking if there are any lapses on the part of the Revenue and Settlement and Land Record Department over the issue, the Union added that the Government remaining silent all these years when several indigenous Meeteis are bereft of land documents is disappointing.

The Union further stated that absence of a proper land law and MLR & LR Act being toothless give room for people from the neighbouring country to claim Manipur's land as theirs and at the same time make many indigenous Meeteis landless.

The State Government needs to take up corrective measures to address the plight of Meeteis, it said and urged the Government to reform the MLR & LR Act.

Is seeking a land document by the indigenous Meeteis a crime, the Union asked and added that all these landless Meeteis couldn't get any benefit of the Government schemes and a loan as they don't possess any land documents.

A receipt of clearing tax has to be attached in submitting a form for recruitment in Government departments too, it added.

Claiming that the Governments in States like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Assam have been providing land documents to their bonafide landless citizens since the past many years, the Union urged the Manipur Government to formulate a policy to address the problem being faced by landless Meeteis at the earliest.

Several NGOs and civil societies have been urging the Manipur Government to carry out a survey and work out how many people are landless in Manipur so that land pattas could be given to legitimate people, it said and added the Government, however, hasn't taken up any initiative to address the problem.

Every Indian is given Right to Livelihood and Right to Shelter under Article 21 while the Supreme Court had in one of its proceedings ruled that poor and landless people living in khasland shouldn't be evicted until an alternative arrangement is made for them, the Union said.

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