Landowners of Ratu Kadavulevu School in Lodoni, Tailevu-North want compensation.
According to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the iTaukei Affairs, Savenaca Kaunisela, the landowners presented their request at the recent iTaukei consultations at Sawakasa Village, Tailevu.
“This compensation claim is new,” he said.
Mr Kaunisela said the other stakeholder in this issue was the Ministry of Education.
He gave his assurance to the landowners that they would look into the matter.
“We are now looking at their claim and we will go back to them as promised.”
Currently, the three clans in Nananu Village were receiving the lease money but the compensation claim was new.
Mr Kaunisela said they had to first verify their landownership claim with the iTaukei Lands and Fisheries Commission (TLFC).
The representative said they had never demanded for compensation in the past but were doing it now as many landowners had been given compensation for the use of their land.
In 2006, members of three landowning units — mataqali Naitaka, Nabati and Rara in Nananu Village, Tailevu – set up the roadblock and demanded that the Government renew the lease on which Ratu Kadavulevu School sat.
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