IMPHAL, Jan 8: Villagers of Thonglang area under Senapati strongly condemned the highhandedness of some armed miscreants for uncalled interference that has created unnecessary confusion in the area.
A press meet was held in this connection today at Senapati district head quarter. Speaking during the meet the chief of Thonglang Akutpa Village, Zinkulakbou, said that any confusion or misunderstanding that has been created at the area owing to the issue of encroachment of land could be settled amicably on the negotiating table further urged all parties against illegal encroachment of land which could further create unnecessary confusion that could disrupt the tranquility of the area.
According to Zinkulakbou, the Thonglang Akutpa Village and its neighboring Songjang Village had been reeling under some misunderstanding over land encroachment issue since 2008 which is yet to be settled.
However on January 5, some armed miscreants in full combat dressed threaten some of the villagers of Thonglang Akutpa, who were on survey of their village territory, which they have been doing every 3 years as a part of their Liangmei tradition.
He further clarified that his villagers on finding poppy plantation covering around 3 hectares in the vicinity of their village during their traditional village boundary survey set the plantation ablaze, which was wrongly reported in some sections of state dailies as potato plantations worth around Rs 6 laks.
He further complained that the police personnel of the concerned PS who had arrived at the villages to look into the matter, left after having food at the villages instead of going to the plantation site to look into the matter.
The village chief while welcoming any sorts of talks and discussion on the land issue in a peaceful manner has further urged any parties involved in poppy plantation not to further extend their plantation at their area.
In the meantime, the Zeliangrong Students’ Union, (ZSU) Senapati district urged leader of both the villages to come together under a negotiation table to bring an amicable solution at the earliest and not to take the situation lightly which could flare up communal tension.
