Aizawl, Apr 29 : The Gauhati High Court has ruled
against the Mizoram government’s order to demolish Saikhumphai Bawk, an
alleged illegal settlement near the Indo-Myanmar border, and told the
latter to give appropriate compensation to the residents who were
forcefully evicted and whose houses were dismantled.
The verdict issued by station judge of
Aizawl bench of Gauhati HC Ujan Bhuyan on Friday directed the concerned
deputy commissioner of Champhai to make assessment on the houses and
properties destroyed to determine the amount of compensation.
Sources said the court also told the
Mizoram government to provide necessary housing materials to the
homeless residents and also give Rs 20,000 to the village leaders to
recover their expenses for going to the court.
Saikhumphai Bawk is situated on the
banks of Tiau River that divides India and Myanmar, and it falls under
the jurisdiction of Vaphai village council in Champhai district.
Under mounting pressure from village
council and NGOs of Vaphai, the local administration department issued a
demolition order in the latter part of 2013. Even as the court had
stayed the order that set a deadline of December 1, 2013, the residents
of Vaphai took the law into their own hands and destroyed several houses
on December 15.
The government’s resettlement package
includes a plot of land, Rs 30,000, four bundles of GI sheets and free
transportation of housing materials from Saikhumphai Bawk to Vaphai free
of cost. They will also be given two silpaulin sheets each for
temporary shelter before they have houses.
Owing to its strategic location and
Myanmarese domination, Saikhumphaibawk has allegedly turned into a hub
of cross-border crimes like gun running, drug smuggling and a haven for
Myanmar-based militants. Besides these, Myanmar security forces
occasionally crossed into Indian border and terrorised the people.
However, Saikhumphaibawk villagers have strongly refuted such
allegations.
The village is surrounded by 150 hectares of paddy fields dubbed as ‘granary of Vaphai.’
The settlement came into existence in
1987 when four farmers from Vaphai built farm houses as there was no
proper connecting the paddy fields to Vaphai, a 10-km distance, by that
time.
The Indian farmers used to employ manual
labourers from the Myanmar side of the border. These Myanmarese
labourers started to settle and gradually increased in number.
Later, a road was constructed under the
Border Area Development Programme to connect Vaphai village and the Tiau
river with the main objective of harnessing the riverine products. This
road connection made Saikhumphai Bawk as a hub for illegal border trade
with more Myanmarese migrants settling in, they alleged.
The Vaphai village council’s concern
came after the illegal settlement sought for sub-village council status
from the Mizoram government in 2007.
Sources said all the Myanmarese migrants living in the village have been evicted and pushed back.
0 comments:
Post a Comment