Day: February 23, 2015

IMPHAL, February 23: The Zeliangrong Baudi, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland, has urged the Government of Manipur not to accept any tender bid in `Minus category` for PMGSY phase-X work in Tamenlong district while warning that it would not accept it at any cost.

A statement issued by Gainithou Gonmei, information and publicity secretary, Zeliangrong Baudi (AMN), said Tamenglong being one of the most backward districts in India, the Union Governemtn has made sincere effort for bringing development to the district at par with other districts in the hill area of Manipur.

Huge amount of funds have been sanction under various fund heads particularly PMGSY for the construction of road in the district. Unfortunately, those funds meant for the construction of road connectivity have not been properly utilised on account of various factors, it lamented.

It noted that Tamenglong district is the most inhospitable hill terrain landscape making it an uphill task for smooth construction of roads and other projects accompanied with heavy rainfall.

Adding to this woe, it said that some contractors are bidding their tender for the PMGSY work below the sanctioned amount known as `minus category`. This new development has surprised the people of the district as they are doubtful even the full sanctioned amount would be able to carry out the work effectively in terms of maintaining quality, proper maintenance and proper damage system etc.

Under such circumstances the construction work with 30-50 percent below the official sanctioned amount has raised serious doubt in the mind of the public on the intentions of the contractors whether they are planning to exhaust the fund through various fraudulent mean without actual work, it said.

It pointed out that most of the previous phases under the PMGSY in Tamenglong district failed to meet the required standard of work.

Urging the authority concerned to refrain from giving work orders with the `minus category`, it warned that the body will not accept it any cost.

It further demanded the authority to increase the official scheduled amount as the nature of the work in the district unpredictable while referring to the rugged terrain.

The Baudi also informed that it would closely monitor all the execution of works in the district and other Zeliangrong inhabited area.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/02/zeliangrong-baudi-cautions-against-under-bidding-pmgsy-tenders/

IMPHAL, February 23: The Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur has urged concerned authorities to cancel the registrations and no objection certificates of fraudulent CBSE affiliated institutions in the State.

Speaking at a press conference today at the DESAM head office, DESAM president M Angamba said a team of DESAM members has thoroughly investigated the incident in which some private schools were attacked by miscreants.

Admit cards were denied to many students by the CBSE because the institutions they studied were not recognized. Moreover, many students were also directly admitted to class X and XII with fake registration certificates and mark-sheets, he said.

The fake students of unrecognized schools which were denied admit cards by the CBSE were Central Institute of Science, Keishampat; Galaxy Higher Secondary School, Tiddim Road; Akash Institute of Science, Sangaiprou; Ramkrishna Higher Secondary School, Ghari; and ASEAN co-educational schools, M Angamba said.

He further said that during the investigation it was found that the students of these schools were affiliated to MM Higher Secondary, Wangkhei and Little Rose Higher Secondary School, Canchipur.

However, CBSE authorities have denied admit cards of these fake students, who are going to appear in the upcoming class X and XII examinations, he added.

Angamba further stated that it has already been informed to the people of the State and also to the authority concerned to stop establishing unrecognised CBSE institutes in the State but as the government and public don`™t pay any heed many students are facing these problems now.

Showing a number of letters and DO to media persons, Angamba said senior ministers and bureaucrats of the state including the Works minister, Kh Ratankumar; State chief secretary, P C Lawmkunga; DC of Imphal East, Joy etc to their much astonishment wrote DO and letters to CBSE officials `“ Regional Officer, CBSE in Guwahati and the CBSE chairperson- seeking permission to allow these fake students to appear in the said examination.

Angamba appealed to the senior ministers and bureaucrats of the state to not get involved in such matters in the future without knowing the actual reasons as this only encourages the students to tread the wrong path and this is how the quality education system in the State has degraded considerably.

DESAM has also strongly appealed the concerned authorities to form an enquiry committee to look into the matter as soon as possible and the DESAM team will also ask the HRD minister to look into the CBSE institutions in the State.

During the press conference, DESAM general secretary Pukhrambam Premchandra informed media persons that a meeting will be held on February 24 regarding the cease work strike of All Manipur College Teachers`™ Association (AMCTA) which has been going since February 18.

The meeting will be held at the head office of DESAM in Keishampat at around 11 am and appealed all the students unions of the State to attend the meeting.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/02/desam-wants-action-against-bogus-cbse-affiliated-schools-to-hold-meet-on-amcta-issue/

IMPHAL, February 23: An inter-community indigenous games of Mukna and Thouri Chingbi, organised by the Purum Area Youth Development Organisation, kicked off today at Purum Khullen in Senapati district with `Unity & Love`™ as its theme. The two-day indigenous games is being held for the first time to bring communal harmony within the state, said AMUCO vice-president Khellen during his speech as a guest of honour at the opening function.

Expressing his concern on many youths of the State abusing drugs, he said if the youths concentrate on sports then the future of the State will be strong. He added that it was high time to educate people on the evils of drugs from the grass-roots level.

The All Tribal Students Union, Manipur president Emboi Serto, who attended the event as the chief guest, lauded PAYDO for organising such an event to develop inter-community relationships in the State while declaring the indigenous games meet open.

Talking to the media at the sidelines of the inaugural function, ATSUM finance secretary Hemang Haokip said the indigenous games of wrestling and tug-of-war have been played for many decades but unfortunately the younger generation are ignoring them.

He also appreciated the organisers for making an effort to revive the age-old indigenous games of the State.

He said Manipur has more than 30 tribes and these tribes must co-operate to bring unity in the State. It is an opportunity for different communities and tribes to communicate and exchange their ideas through sports, he added.

He called for showcasing more distinctive indigenous games with full traditional attires in the next edition, and upgrading the games into the District or State level.

The inaugural function was presided over by the chief of Purum Khullen, SK David. The locals of Purum Khullen and nearby villagers watched the indigenous games with enthusiasm.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/02/intercommunity-indigenous-games-meet-kicks-off/

IMPHAL, February 23: The Minorities Students Association Manipur has charged the Directorate of Higher Education and COHSEM of discriminating against Muslim students.

A statement of the student body said this referring to the incident occurred on February 21 at Lilong Haoreibi College.

The statement alleged that COHSEM chairman with his narrow vision, asked Muslim students who were wearing religious attire to stop writing the exam and removed the religious cap worn by them which was more like making fun of one`™s religion.

It claimed that the expelled students were innocent and said when the expelled students asked for proof and reason for expelling them, the chairman tried to run them over with his vehicle.

A flying squad team consisting of 34 people including the Additional Director of Higher Education and Chairman of COHSEM came to inspect the exam centre creating panic amongst the students who were writing the exam, it maintained.

Refuting ATSUM`™s comment carried as news items in local dailies, the MSA further said it is very unfortunate that ATSUM commented on the issue by considering only the reports collected from the officer-in-charge of the exam centre, without visiting the spot and without understanding the cause of the incident.

MSA also questioned how much money ATSUM took from the council chairman to help him in covering his misdeeds.

Further, it said that JSCC instead of trying to find out the truth about the incident and punish the wrong doers, suppressed the minority Muslims and charged the OC of the exam centre of misdeeds.

JSCC`™s comment on the issue is one sided and unfortunate, it added.

It has also appealed to the URF to find out the truth first in the incident and said that it was very unfortunate that the URF gave its verdict on the issue without knowing the whole truth.

In this regard, it said if the council does not clarify on the issue after finding out the truth before February 25, the student body is all set to launch various forms of agitation, it warned.

It has also called the attention of the State Education minister regarding the issue.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/02/msa-says-haoreibi-college-incident-discrimination-against-muslims/

IMPHAL, February 23: The Zeliangrong Youth Front, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland, has claim that the State Health Services policy of deputation of Medical Specialities doctors in the hills districts on a rotational basis has been reduced to a farce in Tamenglong district due to lack of monitoring.

In a statement Titus Kamei, President, ZYF (AMN), said that the policy was introduced by the Government envisaging necessary health care benefits to all the people especially to economically backward and needy people. But, the policy has failed due to various factors, it said.

It claimed that the specialist doctors who are deputed by the concern authority do not stay at the place of posting after showing up on the first day of their deputation on various such as matrimonial programme, religious rituals/functions, festival etc.

Frequent transfer and posting with interference from different angles also attributes to the ineffective functioning of health care sector in the hills districts, it continued.

It held that the lack of proper mechanism to monitor by the Directorate of Health Services, which is responsible, is the main reason rendering the policy into a complete farce.

Taking note of the circumstance, it suggested that the authority adopt more appropriate options like evaluation of the performance of deputed medical specialist doctors by directing them to submit the list of patient along with details of treatment reports given etc.

It further suggested implementing an option of drawal of monthly salary based on their performance besides entrusting the respective District Administrator/Deputy Commissioner/Chief Medical Specialist Doctors during their deputation period.

Appointment of regular specialist doctors district wise, framing of strict rules incorporating specific posting duration or period in order to avoid interference from different angles and premature effecting of transfer and posting, and to conduct weekly outreach surgical medical camp to augment the deputation policy, are further options further suggested by ZYF.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/02/govts-district-posting-of-doctors-has-flopped-in-tamenglong-says-zyf/

IMPHAL, February 23: The Manipur State Cooperative Union organised a one-day seminar on the theme `Co-operative Movement can bring about Unity and National Integrity`™ under the sponsorship of National Cooperative Union of India, New Delhi today at Gandhi Memorial Hall.

In the inaugural function, Principal Secretary (Co-op) K Moses Chalai, Manipur State Cooperative Union president L Tompishak Singh and retired Additional Registrar of Cooperative Society, Th Manao Singh attended as the chief guest, president and guest of honour respectively.

In his speech as the chief guest, K Moses Chalai said the co-operative movement is in a negligible State in Manipur when compared with the other States of India.

He further said that the State needs to improve the strength of the co-operative movement and it can be improved only when the movement is grounded in the economy because when the economy improves the cooperative movement will also automatically develop.

`Our State is small but we have proven to other States that we have a huge potential in the field of sports. Likewise, we have to show how cooperative movements are also growing in our State`, he said.

After the inaugural function, Th Manao Singh and Kh Tomba Singh presented papers on two topics which were `The crisis of national integrity can be solved when there is good co-operative movement` and `Cooperative can develop under the supervision and guidance of a regular state level cooperative promotion committee in the State`.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/02/cooperative-movement-in-state-needs-to-improve-says-state-principal-secy-coop/

IMPHAL, February 23: The All Manipur College Teachers`™ Association (AMCTA) has once again reaffirmed its stand to continue with the cease work strike until their demands are met.

A press release of AMCTA said that under the banner of AMCTA, college teachers have been undergoing cease work strike since February 18 and it has been successfully enforced in all unit colleges.

However, during an inspection by a team of AMCTA this morning at around 11, one Dr Rehejuddin Sheikh was found giving lecture by collecting some students at Manipur College with the aim to discourage the cease work strike, it said.

It said Dr Rehejuddin Sheikh was recently appointed as principal in a controversial manner and AMCTA`™s charter of demand includes his removal from the post.

It further said that the AMCTA team interrupted the lecture.

AMCTA while condemning the incident said the cease work strike launched by them is not in any individual`™s interest but making demands to the government in the interest of all the college teachers.

Meanwhile, in a separate press release, the Thoubal College Teachers`™ Association (TCTA) has said it is a unit of All Manipur College Teachers`™ Association (AMCTA) and not of any other organizations. This being so, teachers of Thoubal College are undergoing the cease work strike under the banner of AMCTA since February 18 and will follow all the steps taken by the AMCTA.

TCTA also appealed to the State government to arrive at an early resolution in regard to the undergoing cease work strike in the larger interest of the higher education of the State.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/02/amcta-reaffirms-stand-to-continue-cease-work-strike-until-demands-are-met/