The Manipur government is against providing “benefits” to villages not recognised by the state administration or not registered with it, a move seen by many as a step to check the “unnatural growth” of villages due to migration, especially from Myanmar.

“Villages not recognised by the government or not registered with the government in the State shall not be provided government benefits, like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, power, water supply, etc.,” an official statement released by the CMO said on Tuesday quoting chief minister N. Biren Singh

He also said at an official function of the forest department that politicians and officials “need to be sincere and should have a clear knowledge of the history of the region. And the issues we face today are because of our past mistakes”.

This is not the first time Singh has spoken out against unrecognised villages.

On April 29, Singh tweeted about, “Unnatural growth of 996 New Villages Due to Illegal Immigration: Threat to Indigenous People and National Security”.

According to reports from Imphal, most of these 966 villages are reportedly located in Kangpokpi, Churachandpur, Tengnoupal and Chandel with few in Senapati, Ukhrul and Pherzawl districts.

Singh’s post on X further said, “We’re confronting a serious issue within our nation, especially in Manipur, where several new villages have emerged due to a massive influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar since 2006 till date.”

“During this period, massive forest cover have been destroyed to establish settlements as well as carry out poppy plantations. Not to mention, these illegal immigrants have started encroaching on the resources, job opportunities, land, and rights of indigenous people. We have started collecting biometric data of the illegal immigrants as well as geotagging of their settlements...,” he stated.

Most in Meitei-majority Imphal Valley see the influx from across the 398-km largely porous Indo-Myanmar border as the root cause of the ongoing ethnic strife in the state that has left at least 237 dead and over 60,000 internally displaced.

The Chin people of Myanmar and the Kuki-Zos of Manipur share the same ethnicity.

The chief minister had again said in the Assembly in August about the threat posed by the influx to the state’s native population while mooting for the expulsion of those who had settled illegally in the state after 1961.

Responding to the call attention motion by an NPF MLA on the growth of illegal immigrants in the state, he warned those providing shelter to illegal immigrants while citing satellite imagery about the emergence of new villages after the ongoing conflict erupted on May 3, 2023.

Kuki bodies, however, dismiss the influx narrative, asserting it is being fanned to “target” them and their place in the state’s history.

Singh on Tuesday urged all government officers and officials especially that of revenue and forest departments to perform their duties with dedication “for the Nation and State” while expressing the need for all officials to work “within the provision of the Constitution and under the provision of the law like The Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act and Forest Acts....”