Manipur News

IMPHAL, Nov 8: Unidentified miscreants suspected to be UG cadre, today exploded a grenade at the courtyard of Wangoi Municipal Chairperson, Bala Devi of Wangbrei Khaidem Leikai, ward No: 7, today around 6:30 pm.

Sources said, the grenade exploded at the courtyard but there was no casualty, however the wind shield glass of a Maruti car parked at the courtyard was damaged during the blast.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/grenade-lobbed-at-wangoi-municipal-chairpersons-residence/

IMPHAL, November 8: Th Shyamkumar, MLA of Andro Assembly constituency, who is also the president of AITC, Manipur unit has demanded resignation of Francis Ngajokpa, minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj and Economics & Statistics, government of Manipur on corruption charges.

Addressing media persons at his quarter today, Shyamkumar alleged that there have been huge irregularities in allocation of contract works under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in the State.

Shyamkumar claimed that the irregularities reduce road connectivity in the State in the worst condition. The contractors’ bills for the already completed 9th phase of PMGSY are still pending, but some contractors have already got their bills by paying bribes to the minister concerned, he alleged.

He also claimed that the authority concerned are turning a blind eye to the contractors who had submitted forged documents regarding their profiles and balance sheets, in connection with the PMGSY works in the previous phases of VI, VII and VIII.

Further he alleged that because of irregularities in the 9th phase of work, around Rs 82 crore had to be returned to the Centre. He appealed to the government of Manipur to look into the corrupt practices, so that the 10th phase can be rolled out in a proper manner.

Shyamkumar said he is ready for an open public debate on the issue of irregularities in PMGSY works.

At the same time, the MLA said he will request the Union Minister of RD & PR government of India to take a field visit, particularly where the works of previous phases such as VI, VII, VIII and IX have been completed to ascertain the facts.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/mla-syamkumar-charges-rd-pr-minister-of-corruption-demands-resignation/

IMPHAL, November 8: Following an arrangement between the Indian and Myanmar governments, starting December 5, rice from the neighbouring country will be brought into the State.

Sources said 10,000 MT of rice will be brought in each month.

In connection with the said arrangement, the concerned Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution minister, Moirangthem Okendro has instructed the higher officials of the depatment to maintain the godowns of the department in border town Moreh in top condition.

The minister, accompanied by high ranking officials of the department had also inspected the godowns in the border town yesterday.

During the tour, the minister had observed that considering the location of the department’s godown in the town which lies next to the national highway, it is the best to store the rice coming from the neighbouring country, informed the source.

He further instructed the officials to arrange proper security to prevent theft and other untoward incidents, maintenance of staff quarters, approach roads and boundary fencing of the warehouse at the soonest, it added.

The source continued that the warehouse with a 500 MT storing capacity and constructed on 1.8 acre land has been lying unused even after its construction. MLA D Korungthang during the visit instructed the officials concerned to clear the encroachers inside the premise of the warehouse.

The transportation work will be carried out by the Food Cooperation of India, and the rice will be of high quality, according to minister M Okendro, it said.

Further it said that the transportation of rice by the FCI from Jiribam to Imphal had to be stopped because of the ‘Mega Rail Block’ from October 1 this year, which is due to railways works implemented by the Northeast Frontier Railway along the Lunding-Badarpur railway line for making it into a broad gauge.

During the visit of the minister M Okendro and his officials, the team also inspected the Land Customs Stations and condition of the Weigh Bridge etc. The Weigh Bridge was installed with MANIDCO as the implementing agency, which has capacity to weigh 40 MT. Its construction work was started when Jairam Ramesh was the Union minister of State (Commerce) and N Mangi Singh was the minister of Commerce & Industries, government of Manipur in September 29, 2006, recalled the source.

The visiting team also included Y Thamkishore, commissioner of CAF & PD; M Yaiskul, director of CAF & PD; Robert Ksh, ADC Moreh; Ksh Thoiba deputy regional manager of FCI, Imphal; Ranjan Yumnam, joint director of CAF & PD along with other officials, it added.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/fci-to-transport-rice-from-myanmar-into-state-starting-from-december/

IMPHAL, November 8: The All Political Party Committee constituted to look into the demand for the implementation of Inner Line Permit System in Manipur has prepared a preliminary draft of its recommendations to be submitted to the government of Manipur, said deputy Chief Minister, Gaikhangam today.

He was speaking to media persons on the sidelines of the Tribal Language Day function held today at the Tribal Research Institute.

Gaikhangam said he can understand the urgency of the JCILPS in demanding the implementation of the system and setting November 18 as deadline for the government.

He maintained that the demand is genuine, however we cannot implement the ILPS in a haste, and we need to delve into the matter carefully so that there should not be any loophole.

He continued that the committee had already instructed the resident commissioners of Manipur Bhawans in the different States to collect draft copies of land laws from States like Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/all-political-parties-committee-ready-with-preliminary-draft-on-ilps/