Manipur News

IMPHAL: July 16: Manipur Maoist has called a general strike on July 24 against alleged embezzlement of crores by Agriculture department, Government of Manipur. In a statement made available to the media signed by its secretary publicity and propaganda, Nonglen Meitei has stated that it will be a 12 hours strike starting from 5 in the morning.

The statement has alleged that in these few years the Agriculture department has embezzled huge amount of money that comes through various schemes such as Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, (RKVY), Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), System of Rice Intensification (SRI) etc.

It said RKVY was instituted for the welfare of the farmers in agricultural and its allied sectors. The allied sector includes Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fishery, Dairy Development, Forestry and Wild Life, and agricultural research and training etc. The statement has alleged that the total amounts of fund that have been embezzled are more than 200 Crore, distributed among a handful of bureaucrats and ministers by table work manipulation.

The outfit has further maintained that the finding is just the tip of the ice berg. It said embezzlement has been going on in the said department for a long time. This was evident when a former Director of the department gave kilograms of gold as dowry gift on his daughter’s wedding, according to the statement.

The outfit has appealed to the people for their support to the general strike. The strike has been called in the general interest of the people of Manipur and more particularly for the toiling agricultural workers whose rights have been violated. If the authority concern fails to look into the matter, the outfit will take serious note of it, added the statement.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/07/maoist-general-strike-on-july-24/

IMPHAL, July 16: The SI/Jemadar and ASI selected candidates of 2010 who were marching towards the Manipur Legislative Assembly to protest against the State government’s decision to delay the issue of their appointment orders were stopped by a police team at Thangmeiband Meisnam Leikai today at around 12:30pm.

Speaking to media persons, a candidate stated that the selected candidates went to the police headquarters to collect their appointment letters after being notified that they should collect their appointment letters on July 16.

However, when the selected candidates went to the police headquarters to collect them, we found that the matter has been postponed indefinitely, he added.

Stating further that the government or the concerned department didn’t give any prior information about the indefinite postponement of issuing their appointment letters, the candidate said that the decision to further delay the issue of appointment letters was absurd.

Later, the candidates asked for an appointment to meet the Director General of Police to enquire about the reason behind the cancelation of issuing the appointment letters but they were denied the permission to meet the DGP on the ground that he was unavailable.

The Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court has in its verdict ordered the State government to issue the appointment orders. Copies of the judgment of the Chief Justice have been submitted to the Chief Minister, Home Minister, Principal Secretary (home) and the DGP. However, no action has been taken after the judgment, he said.

Urging the State government to not further delay in issuing the appointment letters and fix a particular date, he said that their agitation will continue until the government acts on their demands.

“However, we will not cause any hindrance to the general public because we will be law enforcing agents in the foreseeable future,” he said.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/07/police-stop-disgruntled-si-and-jemadar-appointees-from-marching-towards-assembly/