Parkop to stop eviction of settlers including disabled, elderly

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By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
NATIONAL Capital District Governor Powes Parkop wants to stop the eviction of settlers which include the disabled and elderly living on a customary land.
Parkop yesterday learned of the plight of about 1000 settlers living along the Koura Freeway which links June Valley to Konedobu.
The eviction of the settlers will be carried out by the Kaevaga (Reiva Gomara) Iduhu Incorporate Land Group chairman John Gaudi Guba who had obtained a National Court order on April 11.
And caught in the eviction exercise is disabled woman Lovelyn Imiri, 29.
Her two-bedroom house in June Valley built for her by the National Capital District Commission is expected to be demolished.
It was designed to allow her to move easily in her wheelchair to the bedroom, toilet, shower, kitchen and outside to the compound.
“My family and I are living with anxiety since we leant of the court-ordered eviction,” Imiri says.
“Able-bodied settlers can easily pack up, dismantle their houses and relocate.
“For me and my family, it will be very difficult to relocate
Her father Gari is devastated because it would be the second time to be evicted with nowhere else to go.
“The National Capital District Commission had demolished the original house in 2016 to make way for a four-lane highway to link Konedobu and June Valley. The first house was built by the Australian Rotarians in 2001,” Gari said.
“We want NCDC to find a state land and built a similar house for Lovelyn.”
He called on the PNG Disabled Association and Community Development Youth and Religion Minister Wake Goi to help the family.
“I am seeking help from the public to allocate land for us to build a similar house.”