Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh during the function in Congress Bhavan in Imphal on Saturday. Picture by UB Photos
Imphal, June 12 : Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh today announced new projects with an eye on the forthcoming Assembly elections and expressed the hope that development programmes taken up by his government would convert to votes.
Addressing the 16 newly elected Congress councillors of the Imphal Municipal Council at Congress Bhavan, Ibobi Singh announced a plethora of plans highlighting the acceptance of a Rs 600-crore Planning Commission project for supplying drinking water to Greater Imphal.
He said a solid waste management project would start functioning at Lamdeng in Imphal West soon.
Ibobi Singh also said his government was negotiating with the World Bank to bring 400KV electric lines from different parts of Northeast to Imphal to improve power supply.
Still reeling from the impact of the recent launch of the Manipur unit of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) by Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio at Senapati, Ibobi Singh said his government would vest 50 per cent of the powers of the tribal development department to the six Autonomous District Councils in the hills.
He also promised construction of market sheds, costing Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore, on the outskirts of the hill district headquarters.
Assuring hill dwellers of the government’s ‘serious attention’, Ibobi Singh said, “The government is aware of the problem of water supply, power supply and inter village connectivity.”
Congratulating the councillors, Manipur PCC president, Gaikhangam, heaped accolades on development programmes of the Ibobi Singh government.
Eviction: On the sidelines of the meet, 70 residents of Lamphel Yaipha Leikai in Imphal West told uncomfortable stories about the Ibobi Singh government’s development programmes. Branding the residents as encroachers, the government ordered the police to dismantle 14 houses on June 5 to construct a drain.
Maibam Nganbi Devi, a 70-year-old evicted woman cried while highlighting their plight at a media conference at Manipur Press Club here two hours after Congress programme ended.
“Where is justice? We have been living here for 50 years. Where will we go now?” the woman said.
The evicted villagers including children, women and the old are staying at makeshift camps at the same place where their houses used to stand.