A corrigendum to an earlier observation : 5 Star Hotel, tea stall mentality
- Sangai Express Editorial :: May 29, 2013 -

A corrigendum is in line. A corrigendum in the observation that The Sangai Express made in its editorial on May 22, 2013.

"A 5 Star Hotel in the heart of Imphal city. Great. No arguments over this."

This needs a rethink, a serious rethink, if one may add. A 5 Star Hotel may be in line with the Look East Policy of the Government of India.

It may also be in line with the recent announcement of the Chief Minister that Tulihal airport will start operating as an international airport from July 1 this year.

The question of bigger import however is whether a 5 Star Hotel should or ought to be on the priority of the Government when it is not even in a position to ensure regular power and water supply to its people.

Is a 5 Star Hotel going to put Manipur on the map of tourist destination ?

Is it the need of the hour or should the energy and focus of the Government be somewhere else ?

The basics and apart from the abysmal power and water supply scenario, the basics include road connectivity.

Difficult to imagine that the Government would be in a position to maintain and make the proposed 5 Star Hotel a viable commercial venture when it has not even been able to throw open the City Convention Centre to the public after it was inaugurated amid much fanfare more than a year ago.

Difficult to believe that the Government would be in the position to effectively run and manage a 5 Star Hotel, when the existing Hotel Imphal is in some sort of a shamble.

A look at the newly inaugurated conference hall of the hotel should leave no one in doubt about how the hotel is being run and managed presently.

It would be naive to come under the impression that a 5 Star Hotel can survive on the patronage of the local population and herein comes the question of domestic and foreign tourists.

Has the Government given any serious thought on tourism as a sector which can earn revenue for the State and the people ?

There is nothing wrong with coming up with a 5 Star Hotel, per se, but this should not come by closing one's eye to the other accompanying factors.

A luxury hotel cannot be seen in isolation of the reality of the place. It is under this situation that Homes were razed to the ground to make way for the proposed luxury hotel.

Only those who have been unceremoniously evicted from their Homes will understand the ignominy of being told to pack up under the authority of the Government and this is what the evicted residents of Kabo Leikai have been trying to convey to all concerned through their statements and the peaceful rally of May 27.

The price that one may have to pay for development may be high, but the sense of being deprived and the ignominy that the residents of Kabo Leikai have had to face may not fall in the realm of the price that one has to pay for development.

This is for the simple reason that Imphal certainly does not need a 5 Star Hotel at this juncture. Instead of upgrading Imphal Hotel to a 5 Star Hotel, it would make much more sense to ensure that the hotel is managed more professionally and more efficiently.

Would make much more sense to work towards improving the quality of the life of the people overall.

A 5 Star Hotel in a place which receives power supply for only 7/8 hours in a day does not exactly fit the bill of development.

To those who have been following the agenda of the Government, the reason may not be that hard to fathom.

A dispensation which seems obsessed with contract and supply work cannot exactly be seen as development oriented. This is not governance.