Sejang and Mongbung villagers foil authorities’ land eviction drive

Guwahati, January 15, 2019:

Local authorities at Manipur’s Jibiram district tried to evict villagers of Sejang and Mongbung yesterday, but they were prohibited by the villagers from doing so.

Civil administration of Jiribam reached the villages with machinery for eviction of the land, which according to the civil administration was encroached by villagers from the defunct Jiri Tea Estate land.

The villagers of Sejang and Mongbung claim that the land was granted by the village chiefs for utilization of tribal village land to the Manipur Plantation Crops Corporation Limited (MPCC) which is an undertaking of the government of Manipur, for a tea estate in Jiribam.  The concerned authorities assured permanent employment facilities would be given to the villagers where the tea estate was established.

“However the tea estate failed to function and was winded up by the State government vide order no. 47/ MPCC/ G/81 PT-III and the employment that the villagers had received also ceased” stated a villager.

As and when the employment of villagers ceased, the villagers had no means for livelihood. Meanwhile, the Chief had given a memorandum immediately to the then Chief Minister that the village land that was permitted to be utilized for the tea estate have failed, was to be automatically returned to the owner villages as per government rules. Having no other option, the villagers resumed cultivation and returned to their traditional practices.

But, during a recent visit of Chief Minister of Manipur Government N. Biren Singh to Jiribam district, there was a special cabinet meeting held at Jiribam and it was decided that the defunct Jiri Tea Estate would be restarted in public-private partnership model through open tendering. The cabinet has decided that 400 acres would be used in tea plantation, 600 acres in rubber plantation and 100 acres in coffee plantation.

The villagers of Sejang and Mongbung claim that the land permitted to be utilized as a tea estate was never given to the government by the village chiefs. There was no gift deed or sale deed. They also considered, as the tea estate failed, the land automatically came back to the villagers.

The villagers have said that the village chiefs had filed a case at the high court for the restoration of the village land that was utilized as a tea estate and court hearing is on.

Under all these circumstances, the eviction was prohibited by the villagers. A meeting will be held tomorrow at the office of Deputy Commissioner where authorities will try to find a solution to the problem.