'The Manipur Names of Places Bill, 2024' passed
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, March 04 2024: To prevent changing of names of already existing places and naming of villages/places independently without approval of the authority, the Manipur Legislative Assembly on Monday passed 'The Manipur Names of Places Bill, 2024' .

The Bill also seeks punishment to those found guilty of arbitrarily naming villages/places without the approval of the government.

Moving the Bill in the House, chief minister N Biren Singh, who is also in-charge of land resources, said that it is the responsibility of the present generation to protect and preserve sacred land and resources left by the forefathers of the land.

Unfortunately, the present generation is causing destruction to invaluable land and resources preserved and protected by the forefathers for thousands of years.

At one point of time, geographical boundary of Manipur was said to be around one-third of the size of present China and this was found in old maps but Manipur's boundary is diminishing, Biren said.

Revenue department is to give name of villages/places but renaming of already existed villages/places independently without approval of the authority creates confusion and this would create a situation where Manipur cannot be located at last.

Even Imphal airport is being addressed as Lam-ka in flight ticket and this cannot be taken lightly, Biren said and asked if renaming of Kangpokpi as Kanggui and Churachandpur as Lamka are acceptable.

According to the chief minister, Churachandpur was named after Churachand Maharaj in recognition of his efforts to save integrity of Manipur by launching Lushai Expedition and Churachandpur cannot be named Lamka overnight.

Deeply concerned over claiming of the Thangjing hill range as Haokip reserved forest by producing some document and addressing Churachandpur as Lamka by Assam Rifles in their documents, N Biren said that these self-styled acts as if the state is ownerless are very unfortunate.

As for Jiribam, the district authority in coordination with the people gave 15 villages to their original names after the names of villages were found changed by settlers belonging to various communities.

Changing names of villages independently may even lead to changing names of the native settlers and accordingly the Bill has been introduced in the House to save lands preserved and protected by forefathers of the land, Biren explained.

Regarding the Bill, the chief minister said that there will be one committee under the Bill and change of names of places/villages can be done as per approval of the committee.

The committee will also look after names of hills, lakes, rivers, localities, towns, roads, paddy fields, grounds, historical places, medical institutions and others.

Officials found working in their own interest and found approving new names to places/villages will be liable to face penalty of up to Rs 3 lakh under the Bill, Biren said, adding that government had already cancelled all new names to places/villages and such acts will no longer be allowed.

During the discussion for passing the Bill.

Congress MLAs K Ranjit and Th Lokeshwar assured the House that the Opposition members will fully support the Bill and opined that anyone found involved in naming places/village illegally should be booked and awarded punishment.

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