The Konsakhul Area Joint Action Committee (KAJAC) has banned all types of construction activities for the National Sports University (NSU) complex in their land. It has also issued a restriction on water supply from their river without their consent or unless their demands are addressed by the government.
“The state government is playing with fire and trying to flare up communal situations in the region by sidelining the primary stakeholder. If the government abdicated its responsibility and became a partner to land grabbers of innocent poor hill people, then there is a great danger ahead,” the KAJAC said in a release.
As law-abiding citizens, they have given enough chances in the past to resolve the NSU issue through democratic means. However, their concerted efforts in this regard have been ignored by the government, KAJAC said in a release.
“Being the lawful landowner, we have every right to stop the illegal encroachment because this is our legitimate rights to protect and defend ancestral land inherited from our forefathers,” the committee said.
It is unfortunate on the part of the government for not taking the lawful landowner and the primary stakeholder (Konsakhul village) under Kangpokpi district into confidence in the process of building the NSU in their land, it added.
Despite their best efforts to resolve the NSU imbroglio in a democratic way by submitting representation, memorandum, petition and others, the state government continues to disregard their grievances, the KAJAC said.
Asserting that the government failed to address their concerns, they are compelled to resort to all possible means to fight for their rights till the last man standing, it said.
The government should hold responsible if any untoward incident happened in connection with the construction of the NSU in their land, the KAJAC added.