MBK demands halt to eviction till amendment to Act

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Oct 11: The Mising Bane Kebang (MBK) has questioned as to why the Mising people of the State have been victims of evictions carried out in the State even after ten years of implementation of the Forest Rights Act.

Talking to newsmen at Guwahati Press Club on Wednesday, MBK president Paramanda Chahengiya said: “Since the time of migration from hills to the palins Misings have been living in river banks. With time passed by, the population of Misings increased. With the migration of other ethnic communities in Mising-domited areas, destruction of forest started for meeting the increasing demand of arable land. With floods and erosion affecting Mising-domited areas, we have to search newer areas, mainly government land. However, we’re being evicted ruthlessly by the State administration. Strangely enough, in areas where the Misings are evicted a number of influential people are seen to have engaged in tea plantation. We’ve hailed the government’s decision to form Harishankar Brahma Committee so as to ensure land rights of the indigenous people of the State. We demand Dispur not to evict the Misings till amendment to the State Land and Revenue Act.”