Manipur: Govt intensifies eviction drive against “illegal encroachers”

The Manipur Government demolished 69 “illegal” houses constructed within Waithou Protected Reserved Forest in Thoubal district of Manipur.

The eviction drive began at 7 a.m. and ended at 11:30 a.m., on Sunday with forest officials and a large number of security personnel accompanying them. Seven excavators (JCB and Poclain) were dispatched to demolish the 69 structures.

Singh condemned the officials for overlapping property jurisdictions and illegal land allotments to “encroachers”.

This eviction effort was launched after "encroachers" failed to present "adequate justification" as to why they should not be evicted from the forest region, according to Thoubal Forest Division officials.

According to the eviction notice, dag chithas/jamabandis issued in Waithou Protected Forest are in violation of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, Manipur Forest Rule, 2021, and Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and thus the documents submitted by the "encroachers" cannot be used to justify not evicting them from the forest land they have encroached upon.

The notice further mentioned that since the land was inside the Waithou Protected Forest, the patta/jamabandi and allotment order had been cancelled by the DC Thoubal on June 9. Moreover, all “illegal” occupants were asked to vacate the land and remove all structures constructed by them by 5 pm of June 11, failing which necessary action for eviction and demolition of structures shall be taken up without further notice, it said.