Signboards cannot change districts: Biren
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 03 2023:
One cannot change the district of a place by putting up a signboard there, asserted Chief Minister N Biren.
The Chief Minister made this statement in response to a question raised by Saikot AC MLA Paolienlal Haokip in the State Assembly today.
Biren said that a district boundary commission headed by Justice Mutum Binoykumar was constituted in accordance with a notification issued on October 4, 2017 to look into re-organisation/delimitation of disputed boundaries of administrative districts.
As per the composition of the committee, it would be headed by a retired High Court Judge as chairman and its members would include Administrative Secretary (Home), Administrative Secretary (Revenue) and Administrative Secretary (Tribal Affairs and Hills), Biren said.
The committee's terms of reference are being drafted, he said.
Paolienlal Haokip said that there are many cases of overlapping district boundaries and storage of revenue records of some hill areas in the valley districts.
Claiming that the district boundaries are very clear, the Chief Minister asserted that the status quo of revenue boundaries would be maintained.
Changing the district of a place by putting up a signboard just because some hill people come down and settled there is simply unacceptable, the Chief Minister asserted.
There were many cases in the past where SDOs gave consent to establishment of new villages in the valley by people who came down from the hills.
Now such acts would not be permitted, he said.
Replying to a query raised by Surjakumar Okram, RD&PR Minister Yumnam Khemchand said that MGNREGS funds of Rs 32221.93 lakh for 2021-22 and Rs 13998.56 lakh for 2022-23 are still pending.