IMPHAL, June 16 NNN : The Committee on Protection of Tribal Areas Manipur(COPTAM) is very much concerned about the reported actions of Revenue department officials for conducting a ‘Revenue Survey’ in some hill areas/districts laying adjacent to valley districts.
According to COPTAM, the said Revenue survey is conducted in the sly without the knowledge and consent of the people living in the areas concerned.
“COPTAM has been demanding for years for maintenance of original dristrict boundaries for all the districts in Manipur. However, the state government continues to show its might by deploying several means in one way or the other for the purpose of distorting the original districts boundaries for subsequent encroachment on hill areas/ districts. If the rightful demands of COPTAM are not taken into account by the state government or fails to redress the grievances of the people then the existence of tribal people in Manipur has been reduced to a mere decoration by the state government. Therefore , unless the district bounderies issue is settled, any sort of survey cannot be done in the hill districts. For this, all concerned villagers and hill- based social organisations should always get to abort the evil polices of the state government at any cost,” COPTAM general secretary Thangkam Luphen asserted.
Regarding the alleged enforcement of Panchayati Raj institution in some hill areas under Autonomous District Councils (ADCs), the COPTAM general secretary said the state government has been time and again urged to withdraw the Panchayati Raj in the areas where ADCs are functioning for effective and transparent administration.
There are some villages in Saikul sub- division under Sadar Hills ADCs and some village in Churachanpur district which are still under the Panchayat adminstration. It is learnt that the Panchayat members of these areas are taking up some works / projects in some village with sign-boards putting up in order to show the functioning of panchayat administration in Hill areas. The ADCs are functioning in all the hill districts for any kind of development works and policies pertaning to the hill areas, COPTAM stated.
“In view of the above stated development, the Panchayat/Zilla Parishad members of these areas are informed not to undertake anykinds of activities / project in hill villages were there are ADCs. We are not against development works, but we are totally against the imposition of Panchayati Raj institution in the hill areas. This is for transparent administration and effective governance in our state,” the COPTAM leader added.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/coptam-against-land-survey/
