Biren reaffirms Manipur government’s trust on Centre over Indo-Naga peace talks

Pothashang News Service: Imphal, November 15, 2019: Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh reaffirmed that the state government has full trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah that they would keep their positive commitments on the Indo-Naga Peace talks.

Biren was talking to reporters at the press briefing in connection with Meeyamgi Numit and Hill Leaders’ Day held at his secretariat on Friday.

He said a rough report has been collected from various levels consisting of opinions and wishes of people and CSOs of the state. The same has been shared to the Union home minister Amit Shah this morning, he added.

“The state government would invite the representatives of Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) and other stakeholders for thorough discussion before consultations with the Centre on the issue,” the chief minister said.

He said the state government is not unwilling to convene a special Assembly session. Within the short tenure of the present government, Assembly resolution on protecting state’s territorial integrity had been taken twice and similar resolutions on the same issue had been taken twelve times by earlier governments, he added. Mentioning that the state government firmly trust the positive response and commitment made by the central government on the issue, Biren said, “The government will convene the Assembly session when the situation arises.”

He urged the people and different civil society organisations to have trust in the present government. He informed that the Union home minister also earlier assured them that all stakeholders would be consulted before finalising the peace talks with the Nagas.

Replying to the query about disclosing the contents of the Indo-Naga peace talks, Biren said, “We had asked about the contents of the peace talks, however the central leaders reiterated that the Indo-Naga deal wouldn’t affect the administrative structure of Manipur and won’t led the formation of districts based on ethnic lines etc.”

Responding on the recent ban on financial transactions of the state government, Biren said the ban was just a precautionary measure to overcome the excessive overdraft of the government account so that the Reserve Bank of India would not impose ban on financial transactions of the state. He said the Centre’s share of around Rs 161 crores was credited to the state government’s account yesterday which was due to be credited on the first week of every month. He assured that the ban would be lifted soon.

The chief minister heard around 300 complaints and met around 1000 people from 9:15 am to 12:15 pm on Meeyamgi Numit and Hill Leaders’ Day. Many differently-abled persons, widows and people belonging to poor families were instantly enrolled under government’s schemes like Chief Minister-gi Hakshel-gi Tengbang (CMHT) and Chief Minister-gi Sotharabashing-gi Tengbang (CMST) etc. Many educated and skilled youths were also identified to provide soft loans from different banks.

Officials of health department and JNIMS were there to attend to the people, who seek medical assistance, reimbursement and health care in government medical hospitals.  Departments including minority, other backward classes and scheduled castes, social welfare, education (S), Manipur State Co-operative Bank Ltd. and Manipur Police were also present to help resolve people’s grievances.

Around 1500 tree saplings were also distributed by the forest department to the people who turned up on the Meeyamgi Numit and Hill Leaders’ Day. The saplings included Champaka (Leihao), Jackfruit (Theibong), Indian Olive (Chorphon), Yellow Myrobalan (Manahi), Arjuna (Mayokpha), Indian Gooseberry (Heikru) and Tree Bean (Yongchak).