Congress to don role of effective Opposition, says O Ibobi
3 more likely to be named in Ministry expansion today ; House passes 45 demands for supplementary grants, Vote on Accounts
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 22 2017: The Manipur Legislative Assembly unanimously passed 45 demands for supplementary grants on the second day of the ongoing first session of the 11 th Manipur Legislative Assembly, today.

A motion for discussion and voting on the supplementary grants was moved by the leader of the House, Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren and was participated by Opposition leader Okram Ibobi Singh and Wangkhem AC MLA K Meghachandra.

The House also passed a motion for Vote on Accounts, 2017-18 amounting to Rs 3828,31,90,667.The motion was presented in the House on March 21 by Chief Minister N Biren.

The leader of the House also introduced the Manipur Appropriation (No.1) Bill, 2017 and the Manipur Appropriation (No.2) Bill, 2017.

Congress to don role of effective Opposition, says O Ibobi

Initiating due discussion on the 45 demands for supplementary grants, N Biren stated Government is a continuous process.

The new Government would invest maximum efforts to complete projects which were taken up by the previous Government but could not be completed within their tenure.

The State Government would urge the Central Government to sanction funds necessary for completion of the incomplete projects.

Due preparations were already made for inauguration of Dolaithabi Barrage Project and Thoubal Multipurpose Project but the same could not be accomplished due to the State's 'unpredictable situation' .

Statuses of the two key projects would be apprised to the Central Government and the State Government would work to complete them, Biren informed the House.

Opposition leader O Ibobi remarked that supplementary demands usually don't require much discussion.

It is about authorisation of the Government by the State Assembly to meet financial requirements for payment of liabilities, salaries of employees and enable the Government discharge its responsibilities till July of next fiscal year.

Reiterating that Congress would don the role of an effective Opposition in accordance with the people's mandate, Ibobi asserted that any Government whether it is at the Centre or the State is continuation of an ongoing process.

He further suggested the State Government to lobby with the Central Government so that necessary funds are sanctioned for completion of different projects taken up by the previous Government such as Capital project, Civil Secretariat, construction of staff quarters together with security barracks in all blocks of the State where banking infrastructure is still non-existent, Dolaithabi Barrage project, Thoubal Multipurpose project, establishment of IT park at Mantripukhri etc.

Stating that the Congress party has no objection in passing the demands for supplementary grants, K Meghachandra pointed out that one Congress Member crossed over and joined the ruling alliance.

It is a matter of shame that the Speaker has not yet issued any ruling to disqualify the particular Member, Meghachandra remarked.

Pointing out that Congress party has already submitted a petition seeking disqualification of the particular MLA, the Congress Member sought a commitment from the Speaker.

In response, the Speaker informed the House that the petition for disqualification has been taken into records and due process has been initiated.

Later, the House passed the demands for supplementary grants amounting to Rs 2362,04,97,000. The Demands for Supplementary passed today are Demand No.1 State Legislature amounting to Rs.4,32,39,000; Demand No.3 Secretariat amounting to Rs.6,30,42,000; Demand No.4 Land Revenue, Stamps and Registration and District Administration amounting to Rs.4,23,97,000; Demand No.5 Finance Department amounting to Rs.1,55,28,18,000; Demand No.6 Transport amounting to Rs.1,20,00,000; Demand No.7 Police amounting to Rs.1,36,18,64,000; Demand No.8 Public Works Department amounting to Rs.413,55,19,000; Demand No.9 Information and Publicity amounting to Rs.2,20,13,000; Demand No.10 Education amounting to Rs.65,26,62,000; Demand No.11 Medical Health and Family Welfare Services amounting to Rs.148,13,10,000; Demand No.12 Municipal Administration, Housing and Urban Development amounting to Rs.181,06,30,000; Demand No.13 Labour and Employment amounting to Rs.2,67,98,000; Demand No.14 Department of Tribal Affairs, Hills and Scheduled Caste Development amounting to Rs.63,34,28,000; Demand No.15 Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution amounting to Rs.6,16,69,000; Demand No.16 Co-operation amounting to Rs.87,94,000; Demand No.17 Agriculture amounting to Rs.8,98,73,000; Demand No.18 Animal Husbandry and Veterinary including Diary Farming amounting to Rs.20,12,19,000; Demand No.19 Environment and Forest amounting to Rs.2,00,00,000; Demand No.20 Community and Rural Development amounting to Rs.473,98,89,000; Demand No.21 Commerce and Industries amounting to Rs.13,80,29,000; Demand No.22 Public Health Engineering amounting to Rs.104,89,55,000; Demand No.23 Power amounting to Rs.221,20,37,000; Demand No.24 Vigilance Department amounting to Rs.22,27,000; Demand No.25 Youth Affairs and Sports Department amounting to Rs.7,30,83,000; Demand No.26 Administration of Justice amounting to Rs.3,57,34,000; Demand No.27 Election amounting to Rs.13,77,72,000; Demand No.28 State Excise amounting to Rs.3,58,32,000; Demand No.31 Fire Protection and Control amounting to Rs.1,79,42,000; Demand No.32 Jails amounting to Rs.1,69,30,000; Demand No.34 Rehabilitation amounting to Rs.11,76,65,000; Demand No.35 Stationery and Printing amounting to Rs.6000; Demand No.36 Minor Irrigation amounting to Rs.29,03,61,000; Demand No.37 Fisheries amounting to Rs.1,83,22,000; Demand No.38 Panchayat amounting to Rs.1,59,51,000; Demand No.39 Sericulture amounting to Rs.10,43,000; Demand No.40 Irrigation and Flood Control Department amounting to Rs.52,85,91,000; Demand No.41 Art and Culture amounting to Rs.22,85,86,000; Demand No.42 State Academy of Training amounting to Rs.22,70,000; Demand No.44 Social Welfare Department amounting to Rs.46,10,47,000; Demand No.45 Tourism amounting to Rs.23,12,53,000; Demand No.46 Science and Technology amounting to Rs.2,01,06,000; Demand No.47 Minorities, Other Backward Classes Department amounting to Rs.25,98,80,000; Demand No.48 Relief and Disaster management amounting to Rs.53,60,27,000; Demand No.49 Economics and Statistics amounting to Rs.3,21,34,000 and Demand No.50 Information Technology amounting to Rs.19,51,50,000 .