Manipur minister launches website to implement conservation of land, wetland act

Imphal: Revenue Minister Karam Shyam on Saturday launched a website to assist with the proper implementation of the Manipur Conservation of Paddy Land & Wetland Act, 2014 at his office chamber at Old Secretariat.
The website has baseline data (satellite image of September 2014 with cadastral data) and contains Data Bank with details of the paddy land along with survey numbers with the help of the map prepared on the basis of satellite pictures.
The website was prepared by Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre (MARSAC), Department of Science & Technology (DST) for Revenue Department, Government of Manipur with assistance from ISRO.
Shyam stated that the paddy-land databank will prove a to be a key solution for those homeless people who are genuinely in need of land to construct houses and at the same time, also curb the menace of illegal activities and construction by the public without prior permission of the government.
He also appealed to the public to extend their full co-operation as all the steps and activities taken up by the government are solely in the interest of the public and their welfare.
“There was ban on class change and implementation of the Manipur Conservation of Paddy Land & Wetland Act, 2014 without a proper paddy land data bank,” he added.
“Steps are in the pipeline to lift the ban by discussing the issue in the Cabinet,” he assured.
A presentation was also given by a MARSAC official highlighting the benefits of superimposing baseline satellite images with cadastral data in monitoring the agriculture/wetland areas for every season whether conversion or reclamation of paddy land/wetland is violated or not.
Pointing out the norms under Section 20 of Manipur Land Revenue & Land Reforms Act 1960, Y Rajen, the Dy Secretary said that if any person holding land is granted permission to divert such land or part of it by the competent authority, such persons shall pay a fee to the state government at the rate of Rs 25 per square metre in case of diversion agricultural land for non-residential purposes.
“In case of diversion of agricultural land for non-residential purpose, the fee is Rs. 100/-per sq. m,” he added.
“The paddy land and wet land databank will help in checking illegal encroachment and wrong use of paddy land for commercial purposes,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the Manipur Conservation of Paddy land and Wet land Act 2014 was enacted with the primary objective of conserving the paddy land and wetland and to restrict the conversion or reclamation in order to promote growth of agricultural sector in the state of Manipur.
The Act came into force on September 10, 2014. (UNI)