House passes five demands for grants

IMPHAL | July 22

The Manipur Legistaltive Assembly today unanimously passed five demands for grants amounting to 502,85,21,00 crores for the year 2017-2018.

The demands passed by the House includes demand No. 1 state Legislature for a sum not exceeding Rs 80,35,08,000, demand No. 2 council of ministers for a sum not exceeding Rs 8,62,00,000, demand No. 3 secretariat for a sum not exceeding Rs 77,85,04,000, demand No. 12 municipal administration, housing and urban development for a sum not exceeding Rs 324,37,01,000 and demand No. 27 election for a sum not exceeding Rs 11,66,08,000.

The House also unanimously passed the Manipur Appropriation (No.3) Bill, 2017.

As soon as the House convened, the leader of the House, chief minister N. Biren Singh said that the clash between students and police on Friday was an unfortunate incident. During the clash the police had to fire tear gas shells to control the mob during which three persons were injured including a police personnel. The chief minister also said an FIR was registered in Imphal East Police Station for unlawful activities and disturbance in government movement. 

Clarifying on the transfer issue, the chief minister said, the higher secondary lecturers were given promotion and transfer for the benefit of schools. He said, the incident could have been avoided by proper communication with the concern authorities.

N Biren further informed the house that he invited the students for talks over the issue and gave assurance that the matter can be reviewed if error was found in the transfer process.

Opposition member Thangmeiband MLA Kh. Joykishan expressing his concern over the injury of students and police personnel said that, the Speaker had denied the rights of the Opposition by not giving time for question hour and zero hour during the full budget session.

Deputy chief minister Yumnam Joykumar (in-charge of Finance) moved for discussion and voting for five demands for grants, 2017-2018 on the floor of the House. Opposition MLAs Kh. Joykishan Singh, Okram Henry Singh, RK Imo Singh, K. Meghachandra Singh and Md. Abdul Nasir cut motion for demand No. 12 – Municipal Administration, Housing and Urban Development. The policy cut motion was moved on account of inability to increase honorarium of the ward members, failure to check work executed by work development committee of Imphal Municipal Corporation and misuse of fund, inability to communicate with the ward development committee and local MLAs, failure to run IMC as corporation properly, Inability to implement PMAY scheme properly, Absence of proper policy to control flash floods in municipal areas, Absence of proper policy for functioning of Imphal Municipal Corporation and lack of proper policy for development of municipal area.

Th. Lokeshwar Singh, N. Loken Singh, AK Mirabai and P. Saratchandra Singh also gave their observations on the five demands for grants. MLA Lokeshwar Singh said that, vehicles carrying raw materials for construction are polluting the city and that the waste materials should be collected on time by the concerned authority.

MLA Loken Singh appealed to the House to revive the Nambol water supply scheme (Khoriphaba water supply) and asked on the status of the repairing of the Nambol Bazar, damaged during the Jan 4, 2016 earthquake.  MLA P Sharatchandra Singh said demand No. 12 – Municipal Administration, Housing and Urban Development is deserving. He also spoke on strengthening of local urban bodies and said there is a need for satellite towns to ease the high population density in Urban areas.  He also opined that, the Liaison offices (Manipur Bhavan) in other states could help in promoting art and culture, tourism, and health services. It can also serve as information centres for students and people from other states.

Replying to queries of the Opposition MLAs Joykishan over low ranking of Imphal in the list of Smart cities, MAHUD Minister Shyamkumar said, the concerned department were unable to send the necessary documents in January, due to election code of conduct. He said, 90 percent of the works have been streamlined and continuous cleaning is taken up in the core areas of Imphal city after he took up the charge as MAHUD Minister. He was hopeful that Imphal city could become number 1 city in cleanliness in the coming years.

With regards to querires on the Imphal Smart City Mission, Shyamkumar said, Imphal Smart City Limited (ISCL) was incorporated on November 25, 2016. He said that, Rs 109 crore has been released by the Centre while a sum of Rs 17 crore has been earmarked as part of the State matching share. The Central Government and State Government will share 50 percent each of the total expenditure, he added. He said, the Board of Directors of ISCL comprises 8 directors including the nominee Director of the Central Government. The chief secretary of Manipur is the chairman of the Board of ISCL and the municipal corporation is the chief executive officer (CEO) of ISCL, he added.

Replying to the query of MLA N. Loken Singh, Shyamkumar said, the beneficiaries for PMAY were selected based on Socio-Economic Caste Census. He said, 1,330 beneficiaries were selected from the Nambol Constituency, the Minister explained that the scheme is yet to gain momentum as most of the land deeds (patta) are not in the name of women/housewives.

In response to MLAs K. Meghachandra and Abdul Nasir on AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation), Shyamkumar said, under AMRUT a minimum of 2.5 percent of the total cost is earmarked for development of parks and green spaces with children/ elderly citizen friendly facilities. He said, the total Government allocation for Manipur under AMRUT is Rs 180.32 crore out of which Rs 175.81 crore for water supply and Rs 4.41 crore for parks. The funding pattern is 90:10 (Centre/State). The State Government has submitted 3 State Annual Action Plan (SAAP) to the Ministry of Urban Development.

Regarding the query of MLA Okram Henry Singh on Solid Waste Management Plant at Lamdeng, Shyamkumar said, the yet to be inaugurated plant is fully functional. Replying to AK Mirabai during discussion over present status of renovation/reconstruction of Ima Keithel, the Minister said, as the damage incurred during the earthquake was intense so the renovation/reconstruction will be finished in due course of time.

During cut motion put up by MLA Joykishan on lack of communication between the Ward Development Committee and local MLAs, Shyamkumar said, there is no provision for involvement of local MLAs in ward development activities. He however, said that, he would try to involve local MLAs for overall development. Over the misappropriation of funds for ward development, Chief Minister said, as the investigation is still in progress, the details of the report can not be tabled in the House. He said, the status would be made available to the MLA as per his request.

After the discussion, deputy chief minister Y Joykumar (in-charge of Finance) moved the five demands to be passed by the House. All the demands were unanimously passed by the House. The House will meet again on Monday.