Egalitarian Mantra
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 15, 2013 -
Even though we often heard the Chief Minister, his Council of Ministers as well as other MLAs chanting the mantra of equal development for both the hills and the plain areas of Manipur, disparity between the hills and plain areas in terms of developmental pace still remains a fact none could deny.
This is also one of the main reasons for people in the hill areas to show their displeasure at the programmes and policies of the State Government which seem to concentrate in only some parts of the State while leaving out the rest to fend for themselves.
However, this does not mean that the State Government is oblivious to lack of development activities in other parts of the State, especially in remote and far flung areas of the State.
In fact, the concern of the State Government was made known when Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, while speaking on the occasion of celebrating the 127th foundation day of Indian National Congress at Congress Bhavan, Imphal on December 28 last year, announced that an independent body to be headed by a retired judge as Chairman would be set up with other intellectuals and representatives from all the ethnic communities as members for instituting a new policy for bring about egalitarian development in the State.
But what has happened to that proposal is altogether a different story today and the disparity in development between the hills and the plain areas still remains an ugly truth. .
Behind this backdrop, it is interesting to note how some of the centrally sponsored programmes are being implemented in the State.
As we all know, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a cent percent centrally sponsored scheme launched under the authority of Union Ministry of Rural Development on December 25, 2000 with the main goal of providing all-weather road connectivity to unconnected villages in a phase wise manner.
To ensure the success of the scheme, a three-tier Quality Control and Quality Monitoring mechanism has been put in place.
The first tier is in-house quality control where the PIU/senior engineer of the PIU in charge of the work is responsible for ensuring quality of the works being executed by the appointed contractor, the second tier comprise of periodic inspection by the State Quality Control Co-ordinator and his staff engaged by the Nodal Agency, which is independent of the PIUs and the third tier is envisaged as an independent monitoring mechanism at the Central level where National Quality Monitors are appointed by National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) for the purpose.
Whether all these procedures of monitoring the quality of the works being executed under PMGSY in Manipur are actually being followed or not is known, but the shock experienced by a National Level Monitoring team during a recent inspection of just two road sections, one from Azuram to Chingkao and other from Taningzam to Impa, in Tousem sub-division of Tamenglong district, has shown the fate of the Centrally sponsored scheme for rural connectivity in Manipur.
If this is how a cent percent centrally sponsored scheme is being implemented in the State, how can the public could be convinced that the development works taken up under the concerned Department of the State Government would be any better?
In an underdeveloped State like Manipur, which is home to many ethnic groups which are at war with each other, development of roads is essential not just for ensuring socio-economic development but also connecting the hearts of the people.
This should be the mantra of the State Government when it set out for egalitarian development of both the hills and the plain areas.
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