The Manipur Government on Sunday demolished 69 "illegal" houses constructed within Waithou Protected Reserved Forest in Thoubal district of Manipur. The eviction drive comes three days after Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh convened a joint meeting with officials of the forest and revenue departments. During the meeting, Singh had rebuked the officials over instances of overlapping jurisdiction of land between forest departments and allotting land to "encroachers" illegally. “The state government has initiated a drive to take action against all encroachments in different parts of the state,” Singh tweeted. Sunday’s eviction is the first phase of eviction conducted by Thoubal Forest division with the help of a large contingent of state security forces. The eviction started at 7 am and concluded around 11.30 am. According to the Thoubal Forest division, the eviction was carried out after "encroachers" failed to give "proper justification" as to why they should not be evicted from the forest land. The eviction notice was returnable on June 3. As per the eviction notice, dag chithas/jamabandi issued in Waithou Protected Forest is in violation of the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, Manipur Forest Rule, 2021, and Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and hence the documents submitted by the "encroachers" cannot be a justification for not evicting from the forest land encroached upon by them. 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. Th Lokendro, DFO Thoubal said over 180 "illegal encroachers" have been found settling within Waithou Protected Forest area only. Out of 71 illegal pattadars who were served show-cause notice, 69 structures have been evicted on Sunday, said the DFO. Last month, the CM had issued a stern warning against encroachers to remove illegal structures constructed on government land, including paddy fields, reserved forests among others.
