Highway Expansion Affected Village Chiefs Denounce “Misleading” Report on Highway Compensation Row

The village Chiefs and Chairmen affected by the expansion of the Asian Highway-1 (AH-1)/National Highway-2 (NH-2) in Kangpokpi District have issued a strong rebuttal to an NDTV report, calling it “misleading, factually inaccurate, and damaging to the truth.”

The report, titled “Exclusive: Blank Papers, Multiple Credits – Manipur’s Multi-Crore Highway Compensation Mystery”, published on 23 July 2025, had alleged widespread irregularities in the disbursal of highway compensation funds, including claims that villagers were coerced into signing blank documents by members of an armed group.

In a joint press clarification, the Chiefs and Chairmen representing the AH-1/NH-2 expansion-affected villages expressed deep disappointment over the “irresponsible conflation” of their legitimate grievances with unverified and unrelated allegations. The chiefs/chairmen clarified that their names and petitions cited in the report pertained only to formal complaints submitted to the then Deputy Commissioner of Kangpokpi District regarding land acquisition anomalies, and not to any of the broader allegations made in the report.

“Our sole grievance concerns the wrongful declaration of privately-owned ancestral land as government property by the land acquisition authorities, which has led to the denial of rightful compensation for land and solatium,” the statement read. “These lands have been inhabited by our forefathers long before India’s Independence. We are only demanding what is legally and morally owed to us.”

The Chiefs further stated that while they accepted the compensation awarded for standing structures without objection, they were forced to accept the award under protest due to the complete denial of compensation for land and solatium.

Crucially, the village chiefs/chairmen categorically denied the NDTV claim that villagers had been intimidated into signing blank documents by Jangboi Kipgen, the Finance Secretary of the Kuki National Front (KNF), calling the accusation “entirely baseless and defamatory.”

“No such incident ever occurred. Linking our rightful protest with such fabricated allegations is not only misleading but a gross misrepresentation of facts,” they asserted.

The clarification concluded with a firm appeal to the media to exercise responsibility and accuracy in reporting sensitive issues and to refrain from drawing unsubstantiated links that can distort public perception and cause further harm to communities already grappling with displacement and loss.