Sangai Fest: Need for community involvement stressed
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 18 2022:
With just two days left before the grand opening of the Manipur Sangai Festival 2022, some citizens have expressed keen desire for the authorities to ensure healthy community involvement in the State's biggest tourism festival.
Decorative lights put on the median of Tiddim Road within Imphal city have already become quite a spectacle.
Filling of potholes and black-topping of roads leading to Hapta Kangjeibung which is one of the main venues of the annual tourism festival have been completed.
Similarly Konung Mamang road, Nityaipat Chuthek Road and the Kanglapat Road have been refurbished.
Painting of road dividers is now going on at a hectic pace at different places.
Removal of garbage and waste materials piled up on sides of Konung Mamang-New Checkon road and other roads has also begun.
However, the Yaiskul Police Lane road and the road leading to Bamon Leikai from Thumbuthong which runs along Imphal River bank are still left in a very pathetic condition and not a piece of bitumen can be seen on these roads although they provide crucial links to Imphal city and the Sangai Festival venues.
Meanwhile, some people have expressed opinions and grievances on the way the Government is renovating roads and other infrastructure for the Sangai Festival.
One Nongmeikapam Achouba said that tourists who come from outside the State would have either a positive or negative impression depending on the existing conditions of roads.
Apart from the major landmarks of Imphal city, the tourists would like to visit many historical places located in different parts of the State outside Imphal city.
Kangla, BT Park, Pheidabung, Shree Shree Govindaji Temple, Mahabali Temple, Hicham Yaicham Pat and the old palace of Langthabal are all key historical landmarks.
Keeping all the roads leading to these places in tip-top condition should have been a compulsory part of the planning for Manipur Sangai Festival, Achouba said.
Pointing out that the historical places and monuments are mirrors to the State's past and civilization, one University Professor, on condition of anonymity, said that promoting these places should be one major objective of the tourism festival.
There is a historical account which says that Kangla is the most elevated portion in the entire Manipur Valley but the Kanglapat roads are growing higher than Kangla itself because the levels of these roads grow 4/5 inches higher every time these roads are renovated or repaired, the Professor remarked.
If the Government continues repairing roads by adding layers of stones, earth and bitumen above the existing level instead of digging the road surface, the historical account of Kangla being the most elevated portion would be rendered untrue, he added.
On being enquired about the Manipur Sangai Festival, the Professor said that the authorities need to ensure community involvement if the festival must benefit common people.
How much revenue the Sangai Festival earned since its introduction till the last edition and how much it benefited the common people is highly questionable, he said.
The Shirui Festival held at Ukhrul benefited the common people a lot as there was community involvement in the festival, he said.
Noting that Moirang Khunou has been chosen as the main venue for this year's edition of Sangai Festival, the Professor expressed keen desire for the authorities to focus on community involvement including opening of homestay facilities.
Absence of community involvement was reflected quite glaringly in the recent Kwatha Festival.
In the absence of community involvement, youth from Imphal.
Thoubal and other parts of Tengnoupal district who were camping at the village were seen engaged in violent confrontations and brawls as many of them were using alcohol, ganja and other intoxicating substances, the Professor said.
Observing that some of the tourism festivals held in the North East have hidden elements of sex tourism, the Professor underscored the need on the part of the organisers and the general public to take up precautionary measures so that tourism festivals held in the State do not take such a path.
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