DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 11 (MExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) today stated that the Lamhainamdi incident is due to the “shared negligence” of the State Government.
“Ownership and transfer of land are within the customary right as is provided under Art 371 (A). Inter district boundary and traditional boundaries cannot be mixed,” a press release from the NPCC stated. It added that while interstate boundaries shall be only for administration purposes, “traditional ownership is either hereditary or gifted, if not sold with legal documentation.”
“It looks like land was gifted by Dumki Village to both Kiyevi and Lamhainamdi. Only these three parties should be taken as parties for settlement. No other parties or groups or outsiders should be allowed to involve,” it added. The NPCC urged the administration to “put their heads together and decide the disputes.” “We have seen photographs of the Deputy CM who is also the Home Minister, taking pain in visiting incident sites and reading his appeal to people to calm down. This is not the first time we have seen photographs. The matter doesn’t stop there, people want a decision,” the party stated.
It meanwhile alleged that the present government is afraid to make decisions. “They also don’t want to empower the administration. They wait for civil societies or Court to settle problems and if not, they blame civil societies. They have not legislated laws in 20 years to deal with civil problems. None of the boundary cases were resolved,” the party said.
The NPCC urged the Chief Minister to intervene and stressed that the boundary problems cannot be ignored.
NTC slams State Govt’s ‘ineptitude’
The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has meanwhile appealed for maintenance of peace in wake of the violence which occurred on November 7 with regard to the land dispute between Lamhainamdi and Kiyevi villages.
It stated that the “ineptitude” of the government of the day is “exasperating” unless the issue is settled on top priority at the earliest.
A press release from the NTC asked both the villages to maintain peace and desist from any act of violence that may aggravate the situation in the days to come. “There are ways and means to amicably resolve any difference of opinion through mutual trust and understanding more so in this context upholding the spirit of Naga brotherhood. Destruction of property and harm inflicted to any individual is not an answer but a solution is realizable only by the principle of Christian outlook,” the NTC said.
It further censured the Nagaland Government for “shifting responsibilities, particularly to the CNTC and TPO, platforms which neither have legal nor statutory authority to execute the law, instead of firmly gearing up machinery to immediately address the conflict in the area.” “The government’s claim of enforcing status quo earlier in that area has also neither drawn any end product but only set an indefinite ticking off of a time bomb on the affair,” it said.
