Staff REPORTER
ITANAGAR, Aug 22: The Yobin Welfare Society (YWS) has requested the State Govt to issue a cancelation order against Namdapha National Park (NNP) authority, 36 non-APSTs and Changlang North ZPM Menpa Haisa from the list of beneficiaries of land compensation for the Arunachal Frontier Highway under Vijoynagar circle in Changlang district.
Elaborating on the issue during a presser here today, YWS president Ngwazosa Yobin said, “We, the YWS, thank state Govt for the approval of construction of Arunachal Frontier Highway, especially for prioritizing the portion from Miao to Vijoynagar (MV) Road. This is a great and historic initiative done by the state government and this effort will pave the way for development of Vijoynagar Circle. In this connection the State Govt had issued a notification that promised fair compensation and transparency in land acquisition and so on.”
He claimed that the Changlang district administration denied rightful compensation to the land owners residing within 40 to 80 miles of MV Road and entitled it to the NNP authority. “There are several villages along the MV Road such as Aguhomu (Nibodi), Josadi, Midodi, Yachejolo, Yacheley, Sichoto etc and some of these have existed since as early as the 1930s. These villages are genuine forest dwellers and they deserve and are qualified for the land compensation as they are losing their agricultural land in this project. But when the Highway project came, the compensation of the said area is being entitled to the NNP authority,” Yobin said.
The YWS president alleged that the move is contradictory and does injustice to the actual land owners living within 40 to 80 miles of the MV road. “Earlier in 2011, the NNP authority offered Rs 10 lakh to each family for relocation under Miao jurisdiction, to which the villagers declined. Even today the NNP authority continues to offer compensation in order to relocate them outside the disputed area,” he stated.
He maintained that the villagers had been settled in the area even before creation or naming of the NNP and the concerned authority or the state government did not consult them regarding converting the area into a national park. “So entitling the NNP authority for land compensation is contradictory and unfair to the villagers, who are the actual land owners of the area,” he added.
Yobin also claimed that the survey for compensation was undertaken from 80 mile to Vijoynagar HQ without any public notification or announcement, which he said resulted in missing out many of the ‘genuine’ land owners in the land compensation list.
Touching on their demand for the removal of 36 non-APSTs (ex-servicemen or settlers) of Vijoynagar from the list, he said that the move has shocked the Yobin community stating that it has violated Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873. “All these people were settlers with a lease agreement with the government for 30 years and their lease expired in the year 2020. How come the district administration included these non-APST settlers in the land compensation list, which has violated the BEFR 1873,” he said.
YWS has also demanded removal of the name of Mengpa Haisa, ZPM Changlang North from the list. “He is a non-resident of Vijoynagar circle and is claiming compensation in the ex-AR settlement area. Whereas, in the settlement area, no outside can claim land ownership except Yobins,” he added.
Yobin informed that in this regard, the YWS has lodged an FIR with the Special Investigation Cell (Vigilance) pleading for an investigation into the matter.