BJP leader seeking Rs 25,000 rent, alleges Loken
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 01 2019: One BJP leader belonging to Nambol AC who is also known as a BJP heavyweight in the State has been conspiring to collect Rs 25,000 every month as rent for leasing out rooms to the Nambol SDO office, alleged Nambol AC MLA N Loken while discussing demands for grants pertaining to Revenue, Stamps and Registration, and District Administration in the State Assembly today.

In the absence of a proper building of its own, the Nambol SDO office is currently functioning at five rented rooms and their monthly rent is Rs 2500 at the rate of Rs 500 per room, Loken said.

The BJP leader has been conspiring to shift the SDO office to the ICDP premises located in front of Nambol police station and charge Rs 25000 as monthly rate, Loken said.

According to the Congress MLA, the particular BJP leader is also chairman of ICDP.

He said that the BJP leader has been writing repeatedly to the Bishnupur DC to see that the SDO office is shifted to the ICDP premises.

The Revenue Minister inaugurated a building within the ICDP premises on January 5 this year with a view to shift the SDO office there, Loken said and asked the Government whether the Revenue Minister would pay the monthly rent of Rs 25000.Earlier, any activity taken up by the Revenue Department was done in consultation with the local MLAs.

But nowadays, the Opposition MLAs have been left out completely from all its activities.

The department has been functioning on its own whims and there is no transparency at all, he said.

The department issued a land allotment order on November 3 last year for construction of a BDO office without consulting the local MLA against an area of 17.74 acre at Naorem Uttrapat Manja Ching (within Nambol AC) where many projects are being implemented by the Animal Husbandry and Vegetable Growers Society since 1998 after signing a lease for 50 years with the Department of Sericulture.

It is a matter of grave concern that the Revenue Minister and some office bearers of BJP Manipur Pradesh went to the allotted site and announced that a BDO office would be constructed there soon, Loken continued.

The Revenue Minister is the lone LJP MLA in the State and he has obediently following all the diktats of BJP lest he is kicked out from the Government or removed from the Ministry.

The Sericulture Director has written to the Revenue Department saying that the land allotment order it issued is not valid and this indicates a chaotic communication gap among different departments of the State Government, he added.

While discussing demands for grants pertaining to State Excise and Horticulture & Soil Conservation, Okram Surjakumar pointed out that dubious Indian Made Foreign Liquors bottled in Khatkhati are available abundantly and it indicates that the Manipur Liquor Prohibition Act has not been enforced properly.

Saying that walnuts brought from the side of Moreh are levied tax at Pallel by a local club and clubs belonging to a particular Assembly segment, Surjakumar asked if there is any statute which guarantees levying of tax on walnuts.

If there is no such statute, it is a case of broad day light robbery, Surjakumar asserted and sought a definite clarification from the Government.

He went on to ask how much revenue has been collected from levying tax on walnuts since 2018 and whether the tax collected from walnuts is accrued to the State exchequer in case there is a statute which guarantees levying of tax on walnuts.

He further asked if any action has been initiated in case the walnut tax is not accrued to the State exchequer.

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