Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 25
aga inhabitants of Nahorjan village area under Karbi Anglong, Assam on Sunday censured the report appearing in a section of the media that “miscreants” torched eight houses at one Model village under KA, Assam as erroneous reporting.
The Model village, where the arson reportedly occurred, is actually Kramsa Model Village, and was established after encroaching the land under Nahorjan village jurisdiction by tampering the land pattas of the actual landowners, alleged Naga landowners of Nahorjan village speaking to media person here in Dimapur.
They also sought to clarify that it was not “miscreants” who had torched some of the temporary shacks which was erected in the illegally occupied land of Nahorjan village but by agitated members of the genuine landowners after the deadline served to the “illegal occupiers” to leave the area had ended.
The landowners alleged that one Augustine Kramsa, in connivance with a land settlement cum revenue officer, had tampered the land pattas of the actual landowners of Nahorjan village and sold the land to a group of his clients, mostly Nagas, by providing them bogus land pattas. In this connection, the KA district administration has suspended the revenue officer, they informed.
Nahorjan village was established in 1922 and was recognized by the Government of India in 1958 when it was still called the Mikir Hills. Now, with the forceful encroachment of the village land by Augustine who is the goanbura of Kramsa Model village and his clients, many of the actual landowners who had bought lands from the indigenous village authority of Nahorjan in the form of sale deed/pattas/lease deed etc have been displaced of their land and their plantations, the landowners claimed. Augustine had reportedly issue the manipulated pattas in 2016 taking away almost the entire village land under block I and II of Bokajan Mouza owned by Nahorjan village land, they informed.
According to documents furnished by the landowners to the media, during a meeting with the Nahorijan Village Committee, Augustine had even agreed to return all the land which he had falsely occupied to the Nahorjan villagers as per the dag no and occupied land.
The Bokajan SDM Court, Karbi Anglong, had also summoned Augustine to appear before the court on the issue. He turned up in the first hearing where he reportedly assured the magistrate that he would return all the occupied land. However, he did not turn up during the second hearing which was fixed on February, 2017.
TN Mannen, IAS (Retd) Additional Chief Secretary and Chancellor of The Global Open University Nagaland (TGOUN), who also has a farm at the Nahorjan Village, said properties and plantations worth crores of rupees have been damages by the Augustine party, who suddenly appeared in 2016 and illegally occupied the land by bulldozing away teak, betel nut, agar and rubber plantations.
“Otherwise, we have been living peacefully in complete harmony and in full cooperation with the original land owners. However, since the end of 2015, this Augustine started selling land to Nagas with false pattas and have illegally occupied the Nahorjan village land,” Mannen stated.
While pointing out that whatever activities the genuine Naga landowners have been carrying out is in close coordination with the Nahorjan Village Committee, Mannen said the landowners are already agitated and losing patience due to the non action of the concerned authorities.
We seek immediate intervention from the concerned authorities to take action against Augustine and to return the illegally occupied land,” the landowners stated.
