Committee sets deadline to address issues of Litan, Sikibung villages
Source: Chronicle News Service / R Lester Makang

Ukhrul, July 29 2021: Litan Area Land Committee (LALC) has served a three-week ultimatum to the government to address the long-pending grievances of Litan and Sikibung villages in Ukhrul district and threatened to launch intense agitations if its demands are not fulfilled within the specified time.

In a press communique issued Wednesday, LALC convener Yurthing Kasar and secretary Ramreichan Keishing stated that the committee would be compelled to take up stringent forms of agitation, if the authorities concerned would not resolve the pending issues.

"We consider the actions of the competent authority to be uncooperative, unresponsive and utterly irresponsible and as such, we have laid down our demands to be fulfilled within three weeks from the receipt of this ultimatum," they asserted.

They said that as part of their agitations, the committee would resort to actions which would oppose land acquisition and related works along the stretch from Thoye to Ramva village, Imphal-Ukhrul route until the pending issues concerning the two villages are disposed of judiciously.

"We shall oppose and object to any suppression of rights by any stakeholders who try to manipulate and fabricate the boundaries of villages of Litan area causing great disadvantage of villagers concerned," they contended.

According to the LALC leaders, Litan and Sikibung villages have long been enduring the ill-treatment meted out by the authorities concerned in the matter of separate land disputes.

They said that VS Deepak and Wungreikhan Kasar, who are the bona fide and undisputed headmen of Litan and Sikibung villages respectively, have been subjected to deliberate ignorance and neglect by the competent authority for a long time.

"They had already filed their representations to the competent authority separately, but they are being treated with extreme biasness.

Their issues are pending before the district administration and there has been no attempt to resolve the issues on the part of the competent authority," they said.

It is learnt that VS Deepak submitted a representation dated on January 18, 2021 concerning the issues of exclusion of Litan village from the land acquisition and the subsequent award of Compensation u/s 3G & 3H of the National Highways Act 1956, in respect of acquisition of land for development of National Highway No 202 for the proposed expansion of the Yaingangpokpi-Ukhrul-Jessami road.

He has reportedly been facing continued threats from the villagers and chief of Mongkot Chepu after filing the representation.

However, the authority has failed to take up concrete action to resolve the matter till now, they rued.

In the same way, Wungreikhan Kasar filed a representation to maintain the village boundary between Sikibung and Sareikhong villages.

"This matter is pending for more than 5 decades.

His last representation was addressed to the Ukhrul DC on 18-01-2021.Though the High Court of Manipur had already given its ruling to consider the representation to the DC, Ukhrul, no steps have been taken up by the authority concerned," they pointed out.

The committee leaders urged the authorities to determine and dispose of the representations filed by the headmen over the matter of land acquisition and compensation in Litan area and that of maintenance of village boundary between Sikibung and Sareikhong villages.

They said that Litan village should be inserted in the Gazette Notification or any other pertinent Notification for the acquisition of land in the rectified order and specify the amount of compensation.

"Any process and proceedings of compensation in relation to Litan, Sareikhong and Mongkot Chepu villages should be stopped immediately," they said.

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