Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has directed North Tripura district administration to collect details of people who have encroached on forest land in Manumanpui, triggering protests in the area.
According to the report on Tuesday, Saha held a high-level meeting with North Tripura District Magistrate G Nagesh Kumar and other senior officials at the Secretariat regarding encroachment on forest land.
Home Secretary Saradhindu Chowdhary told PTI, “A detailed discussion was held in the meeting in the presence of the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests regarding the forcible encroachment of reserve forest areas in Manumanpui. The Chief Minister asked the District Magistrate to collect the details of the encroachers and send the report to the government at the earliest”.
Chaudhary said that the information sought about the encroachers includes their name, address, intention and background.
He said that at present it is not clear how many people have encroached on the reserved forest area.
According to the PTI report, the Superintendent of Police of the Special Branch has been asked to probe whether the encroachers have militant background, and submit a report in this regard.
For the past one month, people from different parts of the state, including surrendered militants, have been building makeshift structures at Manumanpui in Kanchanpur sub-division, despite objections from the forest department.
According to the local sources, around 1,250 families have already taken shelter in the area.
Hundreds of local people, who have got leases under the Forest Rights Act, staged a sit-in at Manumanpui on Tuesday, demanding that their plots be vacated immediately.
In 1997, a large number of people from the Bru community, who fled Mizoram and came to Tripura after ethnic conflict, are resettled in Kanchanpur sub-division.
A district official said that encroachers on forest land have demanded rehabilitation facilities, including housing, in exchange for vacating the land.
