Sanjoy seeks compensation for Kimin land donors

Staff Reporter

ITANAGAR, 15 Jul: Former MP Takam Sanjoy has demanded that the government of India pay compensation to the people of Kimin in Papum Pare district “for acquiring large-scale land for setting up of various defence establishments.”

Speaking to this daily, Sanjoy on Thursday said that, after the 1962 Sino-India war, the indigenous Nyishi community of Kimin donated land for establishment of an Assam Rifles camp and other defence establishments, and therefore should be compensated as per the present market rate of the land.

“Crores of funds have been sanctioned by the defence ministry recently for Tawang and West Kameng districts through the initiative of Chief Minister Pema Khandu and union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju. The people of Tawang and West Kameng have been rightly compensated for land acquired in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Now, using the same formula, the people of Kimin also should be compensated,” said Sanjoy.

He described the recent incident of naming Kimin as ‘Bilgarh’ in Assam during the visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the state as “intentional.”

“If the 1962 war with China was a Himalayan blunder, the act of naming Kimin as Bilgarh is a Himalayan mistake. The whole incident smacks of criminal conspiracy. It took place in the presence of the union defence minister, the union law minister, and the chief ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh,” said Sanjoy.

Stating that “the very existence of the indigenous Arunachalees has been threatened,” he urged everyone to stand up strongly against the attempt to showcase an integral part of the state as a territory of Assam.