TL&RPO decries Govt notification

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Aug 6: The Tribal's Land and Resource Protection Organisation (TL&RPO) Tengnoupal district, has started raising objections to a 30 year old order which recognised Yangoupokpi Lokchao as a wildlife sanctuary.
It is important to note that Yangoupokpi Lokchao Wildlife Sanctuary (YLWS), was announced via an order issued by the then Commissioner (Forest) of the State Government on March 21, 1989.
However, after around 30 years since the passing of the order, the TL&RPO has started demanding the notification to be revoked.
Speaking to media persons at Manipur Press Club today, TL&RPO president Langsum Thangboi Mate alleged that the order was issued by the State Government without consulting or giving any prior notice to the village chief and villagers concerned.
He claimed that for the last 30 years, the villagers were literally ignorant of the said order but on May 16 this year, the villagers came to know the truth after the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) sent a letter to the DC of Tengnoupal district.
The said letter instructed the DC to submit a report containing details of all the villagers settled inside the notified area of YLWS, he added.
The organisation president conveyed that there are currently 33 villages inside YLWS and most of these villages have been existing even before the area was classified as a wildlife sanctuary.
This move of the Government is an attempt to label all people of the villages inside YLWS as land encroachers and to evict them, he alleged.
 Langsum Thangboi Mate continued that this is an unconstitutional act and is an infringement on tribal rights and as such, TL&RPO will never accept the stand of the State Government.
Urging the Government to revoke the notification of 1989, he informed that a memorandum concerning the issue was also submitted to the Chief Minister on August 2 but no reply has been received till date and the TL&RPO is waiting patiently to meet the CM.