Union Minister inspects Ima Keithel
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 08 2016 :
Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar today visited the partly damaged Ima Keithel located at the heart of Imphal which bore the brunt of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake on January 4 .
Accompanied by Th Chaoba, president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Manipur State Unit and other paity members, the Union Minister assessed the damage caused to the two Ima Keithels.
In the meantime, women vendors have poured out their grievances to Prakash Javadekar seeking immediate redressal.
After taking stock of the present condition of the two Ima Keithels, Javadekar told media persons that the Ima Keithel has historic significance where various economic activities are carried out every single day.
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"It is very unfortunate that such incident has happened to the Ima Keithel," he said.
When 60 years old private buildings and structures could withstand the quake, how come a five year old building failed to do so, he asked.
Almost all the Government office buildings received some forms of damage in the quake and the qualities of Government offices/structures are questionable, he added.
He further said that he would consult the Ministries concerned and do the needful at the earliest.
Meanwhile, women vendors told the visiting Union Minister that they want new buildings and are not ready to accept the proposal made by the State Government to repair the existing structures.
They further urged the Minister to compensate the women vendors for the loss they had sustained from the quake.
It may be mentioned here that the women vendors of both Ima Keithels have been pressing the State Government to arrange a separate temporary market shed after the structures were partially damaged.
Some women vendors have been demanding Government authorities to pull up the agency which constructed the markets.