Manipur News

IMPHAL, June 29: Inclusion of any new community into the Scheduled Tribes list would have to follow a long procedure of thorough and detailed study, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh told the House today.

He was replying to a question raised by Congress MLA Ng Bijoy regarding the demand for inclusion of the Meiteis in the ST list of India.

Further in his reply, he said though history says that the people of the hills and valley are brothers, but it needs to be properly discussed and studied.

The demand needs a detailed and deep discussion of the history and whether the Meiteis were previously in the Scheduled Tribes list, he said.

Meanwhile, Revenue minister Th Devendro replying to another questioned from Ng Bijoy as to whether there is a policy adopted for changing the entitlement of a village or locality in Manipur, he said there is no such policy adopted on the matter so far.

There are 2529 villages in the State according to the records of the Revenue department, he said.

He continued that there is a trend of both the hill and valley people leveling another name to localities and villages on their own instead of using the name in the revenue record.

Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh replying to another question raised by Andro MLA Th Shyamkumar said an official letter has been sent on January 30 to the Manipur Public Service Commission for the conduct of the DPC for the appointment of Manipur Finance Grade-III, however, the MPSC has not conveyed the reason for not holding the DPC till now.

During the Question hour today, the Chief Minister also said that for the cleaning of the drainage system of Imphal City, the government has ordered a de-silting machine and two silted containers at the estimated costs of Rs 11 crores and Rs 12 crores respectively.

However, there is no policy of the government for cleaning the drainage, he said.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/inclusion-of-meiteis-in-st-list-needs-detailed-study-cm-tells-house/

IMPHAL, June 29: The State Home department has no information regarding the 83 rebels killed during Indian raid in Myanmar, reported by the Times of India on June 13, Home minister Gaikhangam said in the House today replying to a query from MLA Samuel Risom during Question hour.

Continuing his reply, Gaikhangam said the June 4 attack on the Indian Army is believed to be carried out by cadres of the NSCN (K), KYKL and KCP.

Two cadres of the outfits were killed during the attack on June 4and their identities are recorded officially as Rangjanglung Kamei alias Raja, 32, son of Alu Kamei of Noney-2 Tamenglong District a cadre of NSCN-K and Keisham Rajen Singh, 28, son of K Khamba Singh of Nongren Maning Leikai Imphal East a cadre of KYKL, he said adding that the State department has however, no idea of the number of insurgents killed in the aftermath of the attack on the Indian Army.

Gaikhangam also said that it is not the failure of the State security or the State government, it was a pre-planned attack and the cadres must have escaped after killing the 18 jawans of the India Army.

Replying to a separate question from the Ukhrul MLA, the Home minister said residents of the neighbouring villagers, who had fled from their villages in the aftermath of the June 4 attack, have started returning to their villages and the return of normalcy is backed by State forces.

In the aftermath of the attack, the villagers were living in a fear psychosis and fled from their villages, however, the State forces have helped them return to normalcy, he continued.

He said Paraolon, Libong Molkut, Challong, Duthang and Kota Khunthak villages were deserted and the district police along with the Assam Rifles/ Army are giving security to the villagers by frequently patrolling and meeting the villagers of Paraolon and nearby villagers.

So far no untoward incident has been reported, he continued.

At the same time, the State police personnel are taking preventive measures to ward off any unwanted situation, he said adding that the district administration officers have also visited the affected villages and assurance was given by 6th Dogra that no retaliation would be taken against the innocent villagers.

Assistance in the form of transportation and edible items were also given to Paralon villagers for resettlement and about torture or damage has been not been reported so far, he added.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/home-department-has-no-information-of-83-killed-during-indian-operation-in-myanmar-gaikhangam/

IMPHAL June 29: As the water level continues to rise, the visibility of the 30 meters high bridge connecting Chadong village is completely gone.

Water has flooded two foothill houses. Evacuation has started among some panicking villagers while some remain stoic about their position to defend their right. Since the single boat is unable to assist the villagers, several rafts are used for the transport of their goods. Children are also assisting in this hurried evacuation with their belongings.

Some of them said they will stay in a rented room at Yaingangpokpi.

United Naga Council (UNC), All Naga Student Association Manipur (ANSAM), Naga Women Union, Tangkhul Naga Long and Southern Tangkhul Naga Baptist Association visited the Chadong villagers today.

The UNC president Gaidon Kamei while drawing the attention of the government of India said this is not the way the citizens of the State should be treated.

Without any prior arrangements and preparedness about their safety and security, the State government is forcefully chasing out the people of the village, he said.

We strongly condemn such anti people policy and approach of the State government, he said.

It is distressing to deny a citizen rightful treatment and such kind of treatment further proofs that the Manipur Government is indeed a communal Government, he alleged.

Gaidon Kamei continued, Instead of settling peoples`™ demand by working out commonly agreeable points, the State government has forcefully bulldozed the rights of the people by using security forces.

The Chief Minister could have evaded such sufferings and problems by initiating a dialogue with the affected people and rightfully settling their grievances without creative such a provoking situation, he said.

We will not tolerate such actions and will response appropriately in the futuristic interest of the affected peoples, he said adding that we will seek the immediate intervention of the Prime Minister.

President of the All Naga Student Association Manipur(ANSAM), Seth Shatsang who also came with his executive team expressed his dismay.

We had foreseen this situation as such ANSAM have been protesting against this Mapithel Dam Project since the day the government signed the agreement, he said adding that the State government has however ignored the protest.

Chadong village is submerging and we await further rising of the water level to submerge the other villages as well, he said woefully.

The significant aspect of the Government`™s approach is the deployment of India Reserve Battalion, Manipur Police Commando and Manipur Rifles to flush out the villagers. It failed and now it has use water to forcefully evacuate the indigenous people from their habitat, he said.

For us, we consider nature as sacred and hence we will continue to struggle against such magnitude of human made detachment of the people with its rightful surroundings, he said.

The government who is supposed to provide us security has gone against our very security by infringing on our rights. Hence, we called upon the rightful intervention of the Governor, since he is the sole guardian of the hill peoples, he said.

Fisher folks from Loktak also came to assist the villagers with their experiences.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/water-level-rises-further-submerging-chadong/

IMPHAL, June 29: Though the Centre has increased shares of Central taxes for States by 10 percent, the State government had to finalise the Budget plans in an economical manner, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh observed during the general discussion on Budget Estimates 2015-16 in the House today.

Clarifying the argument on the general discussion on the budget estimate, Ibobi said it is very unfortunate for the State that the Centre has abolished the Special Category States status for 11 States of India including Manipur.

He told the House that the State government has been giving more emphasis to centrally sponsored schemes through the NEC, NLCPR which allow further fund sanctions on submission of Utilisation Certificates.

Now, the State has to be extra economically in releasing amounts for even these projects, he said.

He continued earlier before the annual budget sanction, the State used to receive separate funding from the Centre to the tune of Rs 900 crores through normal central assistance, Rs 800 crores under ASC, Rs 450 crores under Special Plan Assistance, however, after the Centre discontinued the Special Category States status, the State is facing problems in the 2015-16 budget.

Ibobi said the government is trying to increase tax collection from Power, transport and Sale tax and carefully monitoring the issue of tax collection leakage from Moreh side.

This fund leakage from Moreh side will be checked once, the Integrated Check Post at Moreh is completed in April, 2016, Ibobi informed the House.

In the Power department, as the State spends around Rs 20/21 crores to buy electricity in a month, there is a need to collect atleast 75 percent of the taxes every month, which is also the target of the authorities, he said.

Now the government has introduced pre-paid system including in the hill district headquarters to solve this issue, he said adding that at the same time, the first main focus of the government to provide adequate power supply to the people.

The issue of water supply in Imphal area is very difficult as the pipes laid around the seven constituencies under imphal Municipal Council are old and at the same time, the Imphal Sewage project is taking a long time to complete, however, we are trying to find alternative means, he said.

He also said that due to financial constrains the State government is unable to replace the old pipelines.

He continued supply of raw water for Imphal can only be possible from the Thoubal Multi-purpose Dam, and the authorities have already started drilling of two tunnels for the same purpose to bring raw water from the dam, he continued.

Ibobi also told the House that the cold storage facility at Nilkuthi is functional now and may be made to run for trial by storing vegetable from Khoijuman, Bishnupur district.

He further appealed to the member of the House to allow passing of the Budget Estimate 2015-16 unanimously.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/special-status-removal-bearing-heavily-on-states-budget-plans-cm/

IMPHAL, June 29: National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is investigating the ambush by a combined team of underground outfits on a convoy of 6th Dogra Regiment near Paraolon village, Chandel district on June 4 killing 18 personnel and injuring 16 others, has formally arrested a hardcore member of NSCN-K from the court today in connection with the deadly ambush.

The arrested hardcore member of NSCN `“K which reportedly led the ambush has been identified as Khumloabi Anal, 40 alias Ambison son of Late Khumlo Khunjo Anal of Lambung village in Chandel district.

It is said that Khumloabi Anal is the Regional Authority of Amamchat Region Chandel of NSCN-K. He was arrested by a team of Imphal West District Police Commando from a rented house belonging to one Nabachandra at Lamphel Super Market under Lamphel Police Station on June 11 around 11.10 am.

A case registered by Tengnoupal Police under FIR No 14 (6) 2015 in connection with the ambush was handed over to NIA. Later, the investigation agency registered another case under Case No 3 of 2015/NIA Gauhati U/S 302//NIA Gauhati U/S 302/307/20/13 UA (P) Act, 121/121-A IPC, 25 (I) (C), 5 Explosive Substances Act.

The NSCN-K hardcore member was formally arrested by NIA from the court in connection with the case registered by it.

He was produced before the court of A Guneshwar Sharma, District & Session Judge/Manipur East today in accordance to production warrant.

While producing the NSCN-K cadre before the court, the NIA pleaded the court to grant 15 days custodial remand. However, the court remanded the arrested cadre to seven days NIA custody.

It may be mentioned that two cadres belonging each to NSCN-K and KYKL were killed in the infamous Paraolon ambush.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/nia-formally-arrests-nscnk-hardcore-member-over-paraolon-ambush/