IT News
Imphal, July 25,
The three member central team who arrived here in the state to take stock of the disputed border pillar issue at Indo Myanmar border near Kwatha Village of Tengnoupal district were today forced to visit the claimed area of the Border Pillar at Namjil Lok today as they were trying to return saying that the Border Pillar No. 81 stands at the agreement site and there is no change.
Sripriya Ranganathan, joint secretary Ministry of External Affairs (Bangla-Myanmar), A.V Dharma Reddy Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) (Border Management), Lt. General Girish Kumar, Surveyor General of India and Anil Kumar Bamba, Chairman-Land Port Authority of India, arrived in Imphal yesterday afternoon and proceeded to the Indo-Myanmar Border yesterday itself but could not reach the site due to bad weather.
Today morning the central team accompanied by the Tengnoupal Dc, SP along with representatives of various political party including Congress, PRAJA and Civil society members consisting of United Committee Manipur (UCM), ICHAM, CPOIMBL and Socialist Students’ Union of Manipur (SSUM) visit the site where the Border Pillar number 81 is being erected.
Lt. General Girish Kumar, Surveyor General of India after inspecting the site said that as per record there is no change made to the Border Pillar no. 81. He however said that he had recorded the complaints of the villagers and assured to report for a joint survey by both representatives of Myanmar and India. He further said that one cannot simply claim land at International border in eye view assumption, it requires a lot of documents. He also expressed the need to collect more documents related to the issue from the state government.
Congress party spokesperson , Hareshwar Goshwami showed various supporting documents and maps to convince the visiting team that the border pillar no. 81 has been shifted towards the Indian side. The congress spokesperson was also supported by other CSOs representatives by showing documents to prove it.
A heated argument occurred between the central team and state CSOs and other political party leaders over the matter after the Surveyor General of India, Lt. General Girish Kumar, said that there was no change of location of the BP 81.
The team instead of listening the argument by the CSOs and Political parties left the site but were halt again by a large number of villagers shouting slogan that they must visit the original site of the Border pillar No.81. Under the pressure of the villagers the Survey team were taken till Namjil Lok River where the CSOs and the political parties representatives as well as the villagers claimed to be original site.
