Tension prevailed outside the under construction campus of the National Sports University (NSU) on Saturday when the Manipur government issued a short eviction notice to remove dwelling houses.
Villagers of Koutruk in Imphal West district rose up in anger and objected to the eviction of three houses standing at the land demarcated for the construction of a police outpost outside the under construction permanent campus of the university.
They were angry when the authority gave no enough time for shifting the families which after eviction, they will be rendered homeless and in the absence of providing land for their rehabilitation.
The Imphal West administration served the notice for eviction of houses of Leishangthem Sanatomba and his two brothers, Ranjit and Yaima, of Koutruk Awang Leikai. The notice stated that the houses would be evicted, and accordingly, officials of the revenue department along with police arrived at the village to evict the houses.
In the notice, it is alleged that they were illegal encroachers and the land has been allotted for establishment of National Sport University.
However, the affected families as well as the villagers denied the allegation and said that the siblings were residing in the land after it was allotted by the concerned authority in the name of their father by issuing Dag Chitha in1980 even though patta is yet to be issued.
He claimed that while issuing the Dag Chitha, the SDC concerned convinced them to settle there for some time until Patta (permanent settlement document) is issued by them.
Yaima, one of the three siblings, in the meantime, asked as to where they would go when they are asked to leave their homestead within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, villagers rose up in protest against the “dictatorial” attitude of the concerned authorities and prevented the officials and police from carrying out the eviction.
The villagers demanded shifting of the campus of the National Sports University if the authorities are to act in an inhumane manner and force to render homeless to families in the name of taking up developmental activities.
A villager leader alleged that the attempt to evict the families was against the conditions which villagers had set while donating the land for construction of the permanent campus of the sport university.
L Jugindro, a member of the Lai Committee of the village, said that the villagers had already donated land for the construction of the proposed police outpost and the same should be constructed at the donated land.
The villagers will raise objection against the eviction of the houses and if the authorities of the state government try to forcibly evict, the villagers may raise the demand for shifting the university campus, he warned.
NNN