“At least 69 houses constructed illegally inside Waithou Protected Deserved Forest in Manipur’s Thoubal district were demolished by the authorities,” officials said on June 13.
Senior officials of the district administration and Forest Department were present when the houses were demolished on June 12.
Following the eviction, around 200 affected people have taken shelter at a temporary relief camp opened at Lilong Haoreibi College in the district by certain individuals.
“The patta and allotment orders were cancelled by the deputy commissioner of Thoubal on June 9,” officials said. Divisional Forest Officer of Thoubal served eviction notices to the owners of the houses on June 10. They were asked to vacate the land before 5 p.m. on Saturday.
“The State Govt. has initiated a drive to take action against all the encroachments in different parts of the State,” Chief Minister N Biren Singh tweeted on Sunday.
Earlier in April, the Chief Minister had instructed the Forest Department to evict all the illegal encroachers from Waithou Protected Forest area. Officials said that steps against illegal structures within protected forest areas shall be taken up in phases.
