Day: April 10, 2012

Mail News Service
Imphal, Apr 10 : N.Rajendro President Information Centre for Hill Areas, Manipur today submitted a memorandum to Pallam Raju, MOS Defence through I Hemochandra, MLA. It was informed that ICHAM undertook a three-day journey on NH 37 from September 14 to 16 last year, i.e. 2011 to see for ourselves the ongoing upgradation works on the highway.
The memorandum added, “As you may already be aware, the stretch between Imphal and Nungba, then upto Awangkhul and the stretch between Jiribam and Makru bridge are manageably okay as of the present, though there is still much more to be done. Unfortunately, the rest of the highway is in very poor shape. Particularly the stretch between Khongsang and Kaimai via Kambiron is the worst. We found that the particular was completely a mud road, with chest-deep pits. Vehicles with four-wheel drive engines had to be driven in first gear in full throttle to get out of the mud pits.
To our astonishment, we found only 17 labourers laying stones on a few metre patch of the mud road near Kambiron village. We found just one or two, at the most three or four labourers scattered here and there on the highway ostensibly working by throwing a few stones over the mud road. Otherwise any scene of earnest work on part of the BRO anywhere on the highway was conspicuous by its absence.
We along with the media persons met the Comdt. of 765 Bn. BRO, Shri PN Yadav in his office at Bn HQ located at Gularthon, Jiribam on September 15 around 11 AM wherein he informed us that contract for surfacing work (metalling and black topping) of some of the portions of the highway had been awarded to two big firms, namely ABCI Ltd and Gautam Constructions Company from Assam, who in turn had divided the works among five/six sub contractors. All process for the contracts were concluded in October, 2010 and August, 2011. But none of the contractors had started working by them.
The comdt also said that they were facing acute shortage of the materials (stones). Yet the entire upgradation work will be completed by March, 2013, he said.
However, from what we saw and found, we were of the view that the BRO would never be able to complete the work within the targeted period. Meanwhile, the Union Minister of Defence, AK Antony had written a letter to the Chief Minister of Manipur on 27 July, 2011 stating that the BRO was making all out efforts for upgradation of NH 37 and has been directed to complete it by target date of December, 2013. Further, 7 offiicers, 169 staff and 1280 casual paid labourers had been deployed on NH 37, and 64 vehicles/equipment and 425 casual paid labourers woul be exclusively deployed for
monsoon contingencies on NH 37, the Union Minister had informed the Hon’ble Chief Minister.
But the three days i.e. 14 to 16 September, 2011 that we were travelling on the same highway, it rained intermittently, and we found only a few labourers and vehicles supposedly working in a dilly-dallying. The media team was the witness.
In another letter sent to the Principal Secretary (Works), Government of Manipur, on 9 August, 2011, Lt Col Prashant Gaur, 2 1C for Commander, BRO 765 Bn, had informed that 1300 manpower and many vehicles/equipment were deployed on NH 37 (Imphal-Jiribam Section) for the upgradation work.
We beg to disagree with what the 2 1C for Commander, 765 Bn, BRO had informed about the deployment of vehicles/equipment, etc. Indeed we strongly felt that the BRO had grossly misled the highly dignified office of the Hon’ble Union Minister of Defence and also the Government of Manipur to cover up its sluggish manner.
ICHAM monitora the progress of the upgradation work of the NH 37 every month by organizing trip on this highway, and nearly 60% of the upgradation work on the 221 km-highway is deemed to have been completed so far.
However, we suggest the following steps for the Union Government and the State Government to see if these can be initiated in order to reduce or altogether remove the various factors impeding the efforts for upgradation of NH 37, and also solve the problems being faced by the truckers/transporters and passengers on the highway.
a) A committee comprising officials of the concerned Ministries of the Union Government and the State Government be formed to monitor the progress of the upgradation work of the highway being executed by the BRO on a monthly basis. If left to itself, the BRO alone can never complete the task within the prescribed time schedule of December, 2013.
b) Two main complaints among others of the BRO are that they can’t get materials (stone quarry) from the local areas (villages) and that they need security protection round the clock.
The Government could take appropriate steps in this regard immediately.”

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/pallam-raju-briefed-by-icham-about-pathetic-highway-condition/

Imphal. April 10 MNS/ NNN: Union Minister of State (MOS) for Defence Dr. MM Pallam Raju visited the Indo-Myanmar border town Moreh on Tuesday to inspect the progress of the on-going border fencing work along the Indo-Myanmar border.
The Union minister of State for Defence came from Nagaland in a chopper and flew straight to Moreh where he inspected the border fencing work along the Indo-Myanmar border being undertaken now and later on held a meeting with concerned officials at Moreh, after which he flew back to Imphal.
Dr Raju visited the border areas and inspected the works taken up by Border Roads Organisation (BRO). He also took stock of the works taken up inside Myanmar by BRO. The BRO is constructing Tamu Kalewa road at Myanmar.
Dr. Pallam Raju called on Manipur chief minister of Manipur O. Ibobi Singh at at the latter’s official bungalow at around 4 pm for nearly 50 minutes, but the details of the meeting could not be ascertained till the time of filing of this report.
The Union minister also called the Governor of Manipur Gurbachand Jagat at Raj Bhavan and will be holding the night here in Imphal, said an official source.
The Defence minister will be visiting Tamenglong district and Jiribam sub-division on Wednesday for an inspection of work being taken up by BRO on National Highway 37 which links Imphal with Assam and other parts of India and inaugurate a road newly constructed by Assam Rifles in Tamenglong district, after which he will visit Jiribam sub-division, Imphal East district to have a first-hand account of the progress made so far of railway tracks being laid to connect Imphal with the rest of the country through railways, said the official source.
It may be mentioned that the progress of the work being undertaken by BRO along National Highway 37 has been alleged to be very slow by truck owners, truck drivers, and various civil society organizations and letters and memorandums urging the Union Government to speed up the progress of the work along this highway before the rainy season begins have been submitted by various concerned parties.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has built a 720-meters-long bridge in Arunachal Pradesh. The Digaru bridge, linking Lohit and Dibang valley, was inaugurated by Minister of State for Defence and
Chairman, Border Roads Development Board (BRDB) Dr. MM Pallam Raju at a function in Lohit district yesterday.
The Digaru bridge, the longest bridge constructed by the BRO ever, was undertaken by Project Udayak.
The bridge, erected in extremely tough terrain, fulfills the long pending demand of the local population as well as the Army authorities.
Facing bad weather yesterday the Minister’s helicopter could not take off for Tezu, but Dr. Pallam Raju decided to travel by road instead. He underwent more than five hours grueling road journey including crossing of Alubari Ghat on traditional ferries/boats and experienced the hardships faced by the local population as well as Army personnel in terms of logistics in the absence of bridges in the foothills of Arunachal Pradesh. Local authorities in Dao division made all logistic arrangements for the movement of the Minister by road and ferry crossings flawlessly despite short notice. During the road travel, Dr. Pallam Raju inspected each activity of road/bridge construction on National Highways NH-13 and NH-15. After the inauguration, he also inspected the portion of trans-Arunachal Highway being constructed by the BRO and visited Paya Production Centre from where all the pavement works material is being produced. The Minister complemented BRO for the excellent work being executed comparable to the international standards despite severe constraints.
Monday’s inauguration ceremony was attended by Lt Gen S. Ravi Shankar, Director General Border Roads (DGBR), Lt Gen Dalbir Singh, GOC, 3 Corps and other civil and military dignitaries. Lt Gen S Ravi Shankar thanked the Minister for inaugurating the bridge despite inclement weather and a long road journey involving more than 11 hours both ways for this occasion. DGBR also gave an account of all road/bridge infrastructure being developed in Arunachal Pradesh. Lt Gen Dalbir Singh complemented all officers and personnel of Project Udayak and 48 BRTF (Border Roads Task Force) for completion of longest departmentally constructed Digaru Bridge and its 1.6 kms long guide bunds and approach roads in record period.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/dr-pallam-inspects-works-at-border/

Mail News Service
Imphal, Apr 10 : The Directorate of Census Operations, Manipur today released data on houses, household amenities and assets,
Census 2011 for Manipur. Y. Thamkishore , Director of Census Operations said census of India 2011 was conducted in two phases. The first phase,called the “Houselisting and Housing Census” was undertaken a few months prior to the second phase termed as “Population Enumeration”. The objective of the HoUselisting and Housing Census Operations is to identify each building/census house and also to ascertain the quality of the census house, amenities accessible to it and assets available to the households living in those census houses. The fundamental principle is to cover the entire area in a systematic manner without omission or duplication.
The enumerator collected information on 35 items by visiting each and every household and canvassing a written questionnaire called the Houselist and Housing Schedule during June to August, 2010.
Approximately six thousand enumerators and one thousand supervisors were engaged for this operation. Each Census in India since the first one in 1872, has attempted to capture the socio-economic, demographic and cultural diversity of this vast country and present it through measurable indices. In this attempt, each succeeding Census has attempted an improvement over the previous one.
As pejr the Houselisting and Housing Census, the census houses increased from 4,92,371 to 6,09,964. There is an increase of 1,17,593 houses for residential dnd partly residential purposes.
There is an improvement in the construction! material used for roof, wall and floor. Thus there is a substantial improvement in the quality of housing both in rural and urban areas.
As regards amenities available with the households, 48.3% of households are using Tap, Tube well, Hand pump and Covered well as the main source of drinking waiter while 38.6 percent use tap water.
Only 16.1% of households have source of water within the premises while 46.2% of households have to fetch water from a source located within 500 m in rural areas/100 m in urban areas and 37.8% still fetch drinking water from a source located more than 500 m away in rural areas or 100 m in urban area.
As far as Main source of lighting is concerned, 68.3% households use electricity which shows an increase of 7.7 point over 2001. The rural-urban gap has reduced by 8.3 percentage points from 29.5% in 2001 to 21.2% in 2011. For any other source of lighting the State recorded highest growth rate compared to other states (Manipur 3.6% & India 0.2%) 31.1% of the households have bathing facility within the premises, showing an Increase of 20.7 points over 2001.
About 52.9 % of the households have drainage connectivity of which 48.8 % have the ope!n drainage and 4.1 % have the closed drainage.
About 89.3% of the households have latrine facility within premises with 46.6% households have water closet and 34.6% households have pit latrine. There is 6.3 point decline in households having no latrine from 18.0 % to 10.7 % in 2011. ; 93.3% households have Kitchen facility with 85.9% within premises and 7.4% outside premises.
About 69.1% of the households are using firewood/crop residue, cow ;dung cake/coal etc. but only 0.2% households use Kerosene. There is an increase of 7.9 points in use of LPG from 21.8 % in 2001 to 29.7 % in 2011.9. As regards mode of communication, there is an increase of 150% in television and radios/transistors. 9% of the households have Computer/laptop with only \ 2.1% having internet facility. 57.5% households have Telephone/mobile facility with 74.4% in urban and 48.9% in rural area. For use of radio the State recorded highest growth rate among other states (Manipur 54.4% & India 19.9%).10. In the modes of transport 44.6% of the household are having bicycle, 19.8% two wheelers and 6% four wheelers. There is an increase of 8.7 points in two wheeler and 2.9 points in four wheelers and 6.6 points in bicycle. 29.6% of the households are availing banking facilities with 41.5% in urban and 23.5% in rural areas.
About T 17.2% !of the household do not have any of the specified assets. The Deputy Commissioner, Imphal West, L. Ashok Kumar and state co-ordinator census, S. Dinokumar were also present at the occasion of the release of data of the census 2011, Manipur.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/household-census-data-released/