Manipur: Government committed to protect state’s interests: N Biren Singh

21 July 2018:

The two-day Fifth Session of the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly began on Friday.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh brought up a range of issues such as India-Myanmar border pillar and Manipur University and reiterated that the government was committed to protect the interests of the state.

He said “the government is willing to work and protect the interests of the state by consulting all stakeholders from time to time”. On the border pillar issue, he said, “It is an emotional and sentimental subject of the state”.

He said the state government, while viewing the issue seriously, had written a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on July 13 urging it to conduct verification of the border pillar No 81 at the earliest.

On July 16, the MEA had informed the state government that a joint team, comprising representatives of the Ministry and Survey of India, would conduct a survey of the said border pillar on July 25. He said the team would reach Imphal on July 24 and as such, appealed to all political parties, civil society organisations and stakeholders to cooperate with the survey team.

On the demand for removal of Vice Chancellor of Manipur University Adya Prasad Pandey, Singh said, “Although the VC’s removal is beyond the purview of state government, it has been for long urging the Centre to constitute a fresh enquiry committee and send the VC on leave”.

The CM said the academic life of the students was very important and hence, a joint delegation rushed to Delhi and met Union Human Resources Development Minister, Prakash Javadekar, on July 17 and apprised him of the issue. He informed the House that an enquiry committee, headed by Justice (retd.) Nandakumar Singh, had been constituted to look into the allegations labelled against the VC. The committee will submit its report to the Ministry and if the VC is found guilty, he would definitely be sacked, he added.

During the session, the House will discuss and pass important legislations including “The Manipur People Bill, 2018” and “The Manipur Liquor Prohibition (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018” and hold discussion on issues pertaining to the interests of the state.

Earlier, the session began with an obituary reference wherein the members paid tribute to four former members of the House as well as the nine persons who had lost their lives in landslides at Tamenglong on July 10.