Day: May 30, 2014

IMPHAL, May 30: The parliamentary secretary in charge of the two departments of Minor Irrigation and Information and Public Relations, K. Meghachandra led an official team to tour and inspect all major dam projects in the Thoubal district undertaken by the state government today.

The team visited dams still under construction to make and assessment of work progress, as well as those which are already in operation to see if there are shortfalls in their maintenance and to assess repair needs.

The dams visited by the team today included the Ithei Maru Dam in the Kakching assembly constituency, the Wangjing Canteen Dam in the Wangjing assembly constituency, the Heirok Litan Dam in the Heirok assembly constituency and the Samhoubi Dam at Nongpok Sekmai.

The team found out that the Ithei Mary Dam, which has been operation for years now, is in need for major renovation and repair works. The rest of the dam projects are still very new and are now n the process of being constructed. The team only made assessments of the progress of work there.

The Wangjing Canteen Dam is now almost complete. The Heirok dam construction is only in its initial days while the Nongpok Sekmai Dam already needs some repair work.

Speaking to the media after the tour, Meghachandra said there has been no dispute with local clubs in the conduct of the annual mela in the district this financial year, however there has been some disruptions in the schedules.

In this regard, official letters had been served to the local D.C. and S.P. as well as the concerned MP, but all these were to no avail and the disruptions could not be prevented.

He said there were reports on occasions that the mela continued till late into the nights under security, and there were cases of drunken revelries by some people with nobody to stop them.

This being the case, local clubs got together and decided that the mela would have to conclude without extending any further from the schedule date of conclusion.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/dam-sites-in-thoubal-inspected/

IMPHAL, May 30: A sit-in-protest was staged against the continuing injustice and discrimination towards the Inclusive Education (IE) caregivers under SSA by the concerned department with respect to their contract agreements. They were all appointed under the advertisement no. 1/3/09/-SSA (SMA) dated 21/03/ 2011.

The sit-in-protest was staged at Khuyathong on Friday after a memorandum had been submitted to Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Thursday.

Speaking to media persons, Kh Premita, a protesting caregiver, stated that if IE caregivers are disengaged it would prove difficult while handling children with special needs (CWSN).

Continuing that IE caregivers are qualified in the detection and management of CWSN both in pre and post natal cases and these services are indispensable in identification and support of the CWSN, she said that the IE caregivers were in service without pay since March 2014 but insisted on rendering service considering their requirement by CWSN.

She alleged that IE caregivers are not treated equally with others staffs engaged and appointed on contract.

“If the caregivers are not engaged again or the contract agreements are not renewed then it will severely affect the livelihood of most of them as they are over aged to apply for other jobs. Such a step will put great challenges to the implementing agency in catering the needs and importance of CWSN,” she said, highlighting their role in education of children with CWSN and in reinforcing and enrolling CWSN in normal government schools and indentifying them.

The caregivers are in a unique position to help the children in their pursuit of formal education, she said.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/inclusive-education-caregivers-stage-protest/