Studying Imphal Evening : Promoting nightlife
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 01 2018 -

Launched on October 2, 2017 and four months down the line, the question is where is it headed and how ? It was on October 2, 2017 that Chief Minister N Biren launched the Imphal Evening amid great fanfare to give a taste of nightlife to the people of Imphal but nearly four months down the line and the weekend do has apparently failed to draw the crowd.

More than apparent that Imphal Evening has not risen to expectations and far from gaining popularity, the number of visitors to the Evening has dwindled and so has the number of stalls opened during the two days period - that is on Saturday and Sunday. Not surprisingly the Government has been wracking its brains out on how to revive Imphal Evening, that is if the use of the term revive is acceptable.

There is no record with The Sangai Express on how many visitors thronged Imphal Evening in the initial days of its launch, but it sure did attract attention from the media but surely the current number of visitors to the Evening is nothing to write home about.

It was taking this into consideration that The Sangai Express ran a report on the dwindling number of visitors to the Evening some days back.

Maybe it was in line with the report that the Government is working its brains out on how to make Imphal Evening a success.

As stated in an earlier commentary in this column, the Government may seriously study the stall fees and if possible stop taking the stall fees.

This will help in some way in keeping in check the price of the goods and eatables sold in the stalls at Imphal Evening.

Moreover traders who open stalls should also be told in no uncertain terms that they cannot quote the price of the eatables and things at their fancy and whims.

Perhaps the Government may come out with a broad price list which every trader has to adhere to.

High price with nothing special to go along with it will definitely find no takers and this seems to be what has been happening at Imphal Evening.

As stated earlier, it may not always be the price that has been keeping the people away, for the chill has been severe this time and many would have preferred to stay the evening in the warmth of their homes.

An indication that not everything is lost for when the chill passes away then maybe visitors may start coming to the Evening.

Whatever the case may be, it is right that the Government seriously study how to package Imphal Evening and make it more appealing to the people.

Why not see if people from outside Imphal but staying close by, may be persuaded to come and visit the Night at Imphal.

Why not make transport arrangement from say Nambol, Lilong, Lamlai, Sekmai etc to make coming to Imphal more comfortable and easy for the people.

Why not include some entertainment programme, with a different theme every weekend ?

Or maybe some event planners may be roped in to avail their expertise (This will entail more expenditure, but the Government may seriously explore this option).

Or why not invite suggestions from the public to make it more entertaining and appealing to the people ?