Imphal, Feb. 26: The Manipur Assembly Hill Areas Committee has decided to review its recommendation to recognise inhabitants of Khoibu village in Chandel district as a different tribe, outside the Maring ethnic community.
The decision was taken after the Maring Uparab Assembly (MUA), a Maring organisation, threatened to trigger widespread unrest. Committee chairman S. Songchinkhup said the committee had decided to review its recommendation in view of the “sensitive nature” of the issue and the “revolt” by several groups.
The Hill Areas Committee (HAC) had recently recommended to the Okram Ibobi Singh government to recognise the inhabitants of Khoibu as a tribe outside the Maring community. The recommendation was based on the report submitted by its expert committee.
The expert panel comprised Kamkenthang, joint director of the tribal development department as the chairman, W. Nabakumar Singh of Manipur University’s anthropology department and P. Binodini of DM College of Science.
While the HAC recommendation was “supported” by several important Naga organisations, it angered the Marings. The latter urged United Naga Council (UNC), the apex organisation of the Nagas in Manipur, to take action against the leaders of Naga organisations for supporting the proposal to recognise Khoibus as a different tribe.
The MUA warned that if the UNC failed to take action against these leaders, it would disaffiliate from the council. It also demanded an apology from the three-member expert committee, failing which it threatened to launch an agitation.
Hill house tax: The Hill Areas Committee has decided to hike the hill house tax from Rs 6 to Rs 15 per house per annum. The tax will also be realised from non-tribals residing in the hills and those settled on unsurveyed lands in the hills like Nepalis, the committee chairman said. The rate of Rs 6 per house per annum was fixed about 26 years ago. The HAC chairman said the committee took the decision to increase the tax in view of the acute financial crisis being faced by the government.
In another resolution, the committee resolved to classify the forests not included in the reserved forest areas of the state government as forests owned by the government or village community/chief.
Army excursion: The troops of Red Horns division of the army deployed in Gossaigaon organised an excursion for students of Mother Teresa School of Kachugaon yesterday. The students were taken to BRPL, Bongaigaon, to educate them on functioning and working environment of the refinery.
