Assam Tribune: Imphal: Wednesday, March 02, 2016.
Some farmers
in Thoubal district of Manipur are protesting against the State government’s
move to acquire their land for the construction of a Centrally-sponsored
National Sports University.
Mutum
Churamani, who represents the aggrieved farmers, told reporters here on Monday
that the State government was pretending to be in control of 336.39 acres of
land in Thoubal district without telling the public that the owners never gave
their consent to the acquisition.
The State
government announced in August last year that it had “handed over 336.93 acres
of land to the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for building a
National Sports University in the State”.
Chief
Minister Okram Ibobi Singh himself “handed over” the land at Yaithibi Loukol in
Thoubal district to representatives of the Central government, a State
government statement had said in August. Thoubal happens to be Ibobi Singh’s
home district.
Churamani
said the State government was misleading the public because the owners of the
land do not even know that their land had been acquired.
“There are
also pending lawsuits in the district court as well as Manipur High Court
brought by farmers against attempts to acquire their paddy fields,” he said.
He also
suggested skulduggery in the matter, saying the Ibobi Singh government had
entered into a dishonest deal with a cooperative society of a few farmers of
the district who are misrepresenting the real owners of the land.
“I have learnt
through RTI (Right to Information) that the Yaithibi Loukol Cooperative Farming
Society had come to an understanding with the government about the acquisition
of land,” he said. The society had changed the names of the owners without
their knowledge and consent, Churamani said.
The
Opposition has also questioned the intention of the State government to
construct the university in the chief minister’s home district at a time when
Assembly elections are round the corner.
The project
involves big money. The Central government has set aside Rs 100 crore as the
first instalment for the project which is expected to be used almost entirely
for acquisition of land.
Churamani
said there were other more suitable sites for the project that the Chief
Minister has rejected.
Out of all
the options, the representatives of 29 civil society organisations had selected
Senjam Chirang, a site in Imphal West district, as the most suitable site, he
said.
“It is not
farmland, so no compensation need be paid to the owners. It is high above the
ground and could be extended on all sides,” he said.
On the other
hand, the site that the State government had chosen was a lowland that would
require huge expenditure on land acquisition and ground levelling, Churamani
said. “Rice production will also be destroyed if land is acquired there”. –
IANS
.JPG)
.JPG)
