Imphal, November 25 2009: The matter of police takes over of land for setting up police subsidiary training centre at Jiribam sub-division of Imphal east district created tension among the villagers residing in the land affected by the proposed eviction for take over the land.

While the Zeliangrong Students` Union Manipur (ZSUM) strongly opposed the proposed police training center at Kmaranga Khasi village claiming that the area to be taken over within the boundary of the Tousem subdivision of Tamenglong district, Khasis, tribes of Meghalaya settling their took up the matter with the Meghalaya Chief Minister.

Official source said that state police department is planning acquire 100 acre covering the area under rubber plantation at Jiribam and its surrounding area located at the border between the Jiribam sub-division of Imphal east district and Tousem sub-division of Tamenglong district.

The ZSUM had while claiming that the area is within the Tamenglong district warned that any take over the land without the consent of the people of the district and DC concerned will amount to invite resentment to the people of the district.

In a recent statement urged the state government to review the actions taken by the state authorities in the district and the subdivision level so as to avoid controversies and people resentment against injustice and timely intervention on the part of the state authorities would only maintained stability and peaceful coexistence.

The matter become serious when Khasi tribes settling there had given strong objection to the officials of the state revenue department and police housing corporation handling the construction work visiting the area for demarcation of land to be acquired for the construction of the land.

Official process for demarcation of land could not be started since the villagers prevented on demarcation of land on November 23 last, a police report here said.

Tension remaining high among the villagers since then.

In the meantime, reports said that the attention of the Manipur Chief Minister, O Ibobi has been drawn by his Meghalaya counterpart DD Lapang on the insistent of the Barak Valley Circle of Khasi Students' Union (KSU).

Taking serious not on the matter of eviction of villagers the Barak Valley Circle of Khasi Students' Union (KSU) on Tuesday requested DD Lapang for his personal intervention on public grievances against the eviction notice served to Kamranga Khasi villagers of Manipur, the Sentinel reported.

Kamranga Khasi village falls under the controversial jurisdiction of Tousem subdivision in Tamenglong district, Manipur where the indigenous Khasi people have been settled permanently since 1940s and paying all the necessary taxes to the Tamenglong district authority and also live peacefully not only among themselves but also with the adjacent villages like Phaithol and Uchathol Hmar village, the KSU claimed.

The Khasis in these areas have been facing many problems since last year.

In March 2008, some miscreants entered Kamranga Khasi village and encroached their land - rubber plantation of 15 bighas, three fisheries and 50 bighas of cultivable, Pohthmi said.

On June 25, 2008 when the villagers were performing their prayers in Kamranga Presbyterian Church, police personnel from Jiribam Police Station booked or arrested Salan Suchiang, the village chairman without any reason and kept him one night in the lock-up and released him the next day at about 10 am, the report said.

Again on October 29 this year, an eviction notice was served by the sub-deputy collector, Jiribam to the inhabitant of Kamtanga.

Meanwhile, official of the Manipur government said that the land now occupying by the villagers are "khash land" which no one owned but remain as government land.

State forest department has been occupying the area for mass rubber plantation since early nineties.

State forest department had earned an income of Rs 35 lakhs since the start of producing raw rubber in 1991-92 till 1998-99 .

Unfortunately, none of the authority took initiative to keep the land under the control of the department since then.

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