TURA, May 12: Reacting to the recent order issued by the Forest department banning sand mining in A’king lands around Damalgre in West Garo Hills, Tura BJP MDC Bernard N Marak on Thursday said that state departments do not have any authority in A’king lands asserting Nokmas are the sole custodians of lands falling under the Sixth Schedule.
“In Garo Hills, A’king lands are private lands under the custody of the Nokmas. Any natural resources available in the A’kings remain a private property of the land owners-Nokmas. Hill areas are excluded from the regular regulation and are protected under the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution. Land and everything within it falls under the private ownership of the clans under the custody of the Nokmas,” Marak said
Marak reiterated that the state and the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) cannot impose any restriction in private property and on activities of the tribals as it would violate the rights of the Hill tribals in the district.
“In Garo Hills, the imposition of certain restrictions by the state department (Forest) claiming that there was a Court order is misleading. The sand gatherers within the A’kingland till today follow indigenous methods of collecting sand manually and fill their ‘koks’ (basket) and do no harm to the environment and the people in general. The collected sand is then dumped on the roadside which is then taken by vehicles, in no way does this process harm the environment and the sand deposit does not deplete since the running river keeps on depositing sand over time,” the Tura MDC said, adding that the local sand gatherers do not use machines for their activity.
On the notice claiming that their activity was illegal and that licence should be issued by the competent authority, Bernard asked, “How can a state department be a competent authority to issue licences to the tribals residing in the Ak’ing lands? It looks like an attempt to impose indirect tax to generate revenue for the state. This is not right as A’king lands are private lands in Garo Hills”.
