Survey teams told to go back
Source: The Sangai Express

CCpur, April 13 2023: Two teams tasked with land survey and geo-tagging exercises were confronted by the people and sent back from two places in Churachandpur district.

Yesterday, a team of officials of the Revenue and Forest Department were confronted at Sielmat village and told to stop their survey.

Afterwards, a 'bigger' team headed by Tuibong Sub-Divisional Officer and a Range Officer of the Forest Department attempted to conduct the same exercise today, however they were again confronted by student leaders and villagers at Silemat village.

District administration officials and police rushed to the spot, however, the people shouted slogans and stalled the exercise.

Later in the day, several CSOs were reportedly invited by DFO Churachandpur for a meeting at 2 pm, but when they arrived at the office, the DFO was found not present.

The leaders of the CSOs including KSO, ZSF, RPZI, Sielmat VA, Hmar Inpui, PTC, and ITLF among others had to return without meeting the DFO.

Some of the leaders who confronted the survey team today at Sielmat even opined that "maybe it is time for the State tribal people to seek an alternative by demanding greater Mizoram if Manipur continues to openly show their dislike by calling us foreigners and attempted to grab our land under the guise of Forest Reserves and Protected Forest" .

Meanwhile, a similar standoff also reportedly ensued at Sungnu Road today with several villagers opposing a survey team from conducting any exercise in the area.

Commenting on the exercise, meanwhile, ZSF said it will strive for "implementation of the 6th Schedule in the tribal areas of Manipur" .

"The ZSF is entirely convinced that the non-implementation of the 6th Schedule of the Constitution in the tribal areas of Manipur is the primary cause of all land-related issues the tribals of the State are facing," it said in a statement.

The "forceful" eviction of tribal villagers from their homestead, the claim that large areas in tribal-owned land are Reserved Forests, Protected Forests, Wetlands, etc through previously "unknown and highly ques- tionable" Gazette notifications have put the entire tribal population in a state of tumult and panic, it said.

The demolition of Churches which were built and used for the past fifty years on Government lands in Imphal in the dead of the night without giving the Church workers, who made no attempt to resist the demolition, to even collect their personal belongings in the compound speaks of the vileness and inhumanity of the Government's actions, said ZSF alleging that some of the actions were directed against the tribal people.

With regard to land, "the declaration of land inhabited by tribal people as Protected and Reserved forests and the like is a gross violation of tribal rights" .

As per the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the State Government may constitute any forest-land or waste-land which is the property of Government, or over which the Government has proprietary rights.

But, the land declared as Reserved Forests are in fact tribal land under private ownership or land under traditional Chieftainship, it added.

"Unannounced survey of land without the knowledge of village chiefs and village authorities (VAs) and the general public cannot be accepted and should not be done," ZSF said.

It also claimed that other than forests, declaring certain areas in various districts including Churachandpur as wetland is another "violation of tribal and land owner rights" .

Water channels and more importantly, paddy fields are outside the definition of wetlands under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management Rules) 2017 .

A proper clarification is required as to how and why certain privately owned properties have been brought under wetlands, it argued.

The recent targeting of and "othering" of Christians in the State and in particular, the demolition of Churches in Imphal during the intervening night of 10-11 April 2023 violates the ideals and spirit of secularism, it said, adding it is notable that the Churches made no attempts to resist the demolition.

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