Five Star Hotel in Imphal Leaves Tribals Homeless
Channel: VideoVolunteers
Date: 2013-09-11

For more than a year the residents of Naga River Colony in West Imphal have resisted the demolition of their houses. On the fateful morning of 20th May, 2013, an eviction drive was carried out by Manipur government leaving 27 families homeless.

Community Correspondent Achungmei Kamei from Imphal, Manipur reports on the struggle of this community and its untold miseries. 

"The question is, how important is it to make a five star hotel that will leave 200 people from 26 houses without a roof over their heads?", she asks.

The order came after all the structures in the area, whose majority residents are tribal, were declared as 'encroachers' by the State Government. The entire colony was flattened to the ground for the sake of building a 5 star hotel reducing the status of tribal community to refugees in their own land.

Residents say that they were not given the mandatory 10 days notice. Instead they were given a day's notice to pack up and move out.

"We are like animals with no shelter and if the government wants to kill us we are ready to die here because we don't have anywhere else to live" says Z.V Wungshim, a resident of the colony. He added that they are not disheartened by the Government's move and that they will fight back to claim their dwellings in the locality.