Still a lot to do for the BJP led Govt :: Lest it is old wine in new bottle
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 06 2017 -

Reaching out to the hill districts or rather the people of the hill districts.

This is something which the BJP led Government seems to have done rather successfully, a point which has been underlined by the fact that the Government of Manipur is today no longer 'communal Government of Manipur' according to numerous Naga civil society organisations.

This is a tremendous achievement, for Manipur has for long been living under this tag, more so after the then Congress Government decided to bar the entry of NSCN (IM) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah to his native village at Somdal in Ukhrul district some time in 2010.

Holding talks with the Churachandpur JAC in the face of the fact that of the nine people killed in the uproar after the State Assembly passed the three Bills on August 31, 2015, eight bodies are still lying in state.

Financial incentives already announced for Ukhrul district and Kangpokpi district and Chief Minister N Biren set to visit Churachandpur tomorrow, though it is for a seminar organised by the Editors' Guild, Manipur.

This is a marked change from the days when the former Government did not hold any formal talk with the Churachandpur JAC and the then Chief Minister did not deem, it necessary to visit the district after the 2015 uprising.

No doubt, the State Government seems to be humming the right tune as far as the hill districts are concerned, but unfortunately some of the nagging issues which have been plaguing the State continue to do so.

It was just for a few days that fuel transporters staged the cease work strike following yet another attack on their convoy on NH-2 and petro pumps across Imphal are already dry.

True the State Government did crack the whip and raided two petrol outlets on May 4, but the fact of the matter is majority of the petrol pumps in Imphal are dry while fuel is available aplenty in the black market with a litre of petrol being sold as high as Rs 110.

The ugly cases that enveloped the just concluded Class XII board examinations ahd the latest development wherein an examiner was pulled up while trying to change the answer scripts of some candidates of Class X board examinations are all reminders that the State Government will need to do much more to address the acunae that has been dogging the State.

True, some people have been pulled up in connection with the Physics question pa- per leak of the Class XII board examination but now no one seems to know the stage of the investigation that has been initiated.

Will the same story repeat with the case of the attempt to change the answer scripts of the Class X examination .

These are but some of the examples that are current but how do the BJP led Government intend to deal with many of the pressing issues of the State ?

At the moment the honeymoon period with the media seems to continue but how long this last will depend largely on how the BJP Government delivers its pre-poll promises to the people, or else it will come to a case of old wine in new bottle.

An observation which should not be lost on Chief Minister N Biren .