Zodin Sanga,
Aizawl (Sept 14): The
Mizoram government has issued a demolition order for an illegal
settlement near Myanmar border in Mizoram’s Champhai district, which has
emerged as a hub for cross-border smugglers.
According to sources from the state
local administration department, the unlawful village, on the banks of
Tiau river that divides India and Myanmar, presently has 63 households,
23 of which are of illegal Myanmarese migrants.
“While asking the Myanmarese families to
go back, resettlement plan has been arranged for the Indian families,”
the sources said.
The resettlement package includes four
bundle of GI sheets and plot of land for each family at the nearby
Vaphai village and free transportation of construction materials.
About four farmers having paddy fields
on the banks of the river built a temporary settlement, and after more
farmers started to settle it came to be known as Saikhum Phai Bawk. They
were later joined by more farmers.
After a road was constructed under the
Border Area Development Programme to connect Vaphai village and the Tiau
river with the main objective of harnessing the riverine products,
Saikhum Phai Bawk emerged as a hub for illegal border trade with more
Myanmarese migrants settling in, sources said.
However, even as the local
administration department set a October 31 deadline for evacuation of
the village, the villagers have vowed to defy the order.
The village leaders claimed that the
village had been built as early as 1963, but was evacuated during the
Mizoram insurgency period that started from 1966 and lasted till 1986.
It was rebuilt in 1987 with the approval of Vaphai village council and
remains under this jurisdiction till date.