From susidised LPG to now VIP passes : Time now for a post mortem
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 01 2015 -

Another ugly face of Sangai Festival VIP passes issued to autorickshaws, school vans :: Pix - TSE

Subsidised LPG cylinders at the Sangai Festival foodstalls to now VIP passes to school vans and autorickshaws and clearly there is nothing to suggest that the State Government has learnt anything from the ugly incidents of the past.

Top this off with the report that entry tickets were found being sold in the grey market, of course at inflated rates and people should thank their stars that things did not take a nastier turn.

This is all that more so given the fact that an armed group had imposed a ban on the Sangai Festival well before the festival kicked off.

So what is wrong ? Plenty.

An ample testimony that the State Government has refused to look beyond the obvious and is more concerned with ensuring that those who come under the tag of VVIPs and VIPs are ensured a free run to the festival venue.

This is what is unacceptable.

That the State Government has taken the Sangai Festival as an opportunity to showcase Manipur to the outside world is clear but why have important details such as issuing VIP passes, ensuring that the foodstalls at the festival venue use only the mandated commercial LPG cylinders been overlooked ?

Ultimately it is the details that will count in the long run.

It has been a few days that The Sangai Express published a story on how domestic LPG cylinders were being used in some foodstalls at the festival venue, but so far there has not been a word from the State Government or the department concerned.

There is also no report of any course of action being taken up to ensure that the foodstalls do not use domestic LPG cylinders and this is what is rankling.

Now comes the news that VIP passes have been issued indiscriminately.

The festival is now over and it is only right that the State Government does some soul searching and pull up all those who slept over these important matters.

This is also the time for the Government to ponder over the wisdom of sticking to the same venue down the years.

The huge crowd near the festival venue from November 21 to 30 is no doubt welcome, but how about the inconvenience caused to the public who have to pass along the roads which are near the festival venue ?

How about the people living near the festival venue ? It has been the consistent stand of The Sangai Express that the Government should discard its fixation with Imphal every time something important comes up.

It should learn to look beyond Imphal and the main venue of the Sangai Festival can certainly be held somewhere outside Imphal.

Why not Keibul Lamjao, for as the name of the festival itself suggests, this could be an appropriate venue.

Let the other fixtures be held at BOAT and Iboyaima Shumang Lila Shanglen or any other place, but the main venue of the festival can certainly be somewhere.

It is also time for the Government to come up with some sort of a price fixation policy inside the festival venue.

It certainly makes no sense for the foodstalls to charge Rs 50 for a boiled egg or Rs 30 for a cup of lukewarm coffee.

Let the post mortem of the Sangai Festival begin.