Tripartite talk gives a miss to AA demand
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, February 12 2013: The fifth round of the tripartite talk involving United Naga Council (UNC), Government of Manipur and Central Government was held at the Conference hall of DRDA at Senapati District Head Quarters today.

However, the theme of the talks i.e.the 'Alternative Arrangement' was not discussed.

The tripartite talk which started off at around 11:15 am carried on till 1:10 pm.

In the talk, S Jayaraman, Special Secretary (Internal Security) of Ministry of Home Affairs and its Joint Secretary (North East) Sambhu Singh represented the Central Government while the Government of Manipur was led by Chief Secretary DS Poonia; Additional Chief Secretary A Luikham and Principal Secretary (Home) Dr J Suresh Babu.

On the other hand, UNC was represented by its President L Adani, Vice President TS Warngam, General Secretary Gaidon Kamei, former UNC chief and Chairman of the Committee on Alternative Arrangement KS Paul Leo, Asinpao Gangmei and four other members in the talk.

Deputy Commissioner of Senapati district Pradeep Kumar Jha, Superintendent of Police Pushpanjali and the Commandant of 59th Mountain Bragadier also took part in it.

Tripartite talk at Senapati

Talking to media persons after the tripartite talk, S Jayaraman categorically stated that today's talk had nothing to do with the 'Alternative Arrangement' of the Nagas.

"We have come here to see what the problem is and solve it", he added.

The Central officer further stated that the talk went peacefully as expected and it was indeed a good interaction among the participating groups.

During the course of the talk, the State Government placed a detail report on the developmental programmes being taken up in the Hill districts of Manipur and the UNC also brought out their grievances against the State Government to which we listened patiently, Jayaraman said.

He observed that though the UNC made it a point to put their demands into action, they have been made known that the issue of 'Alternative Arrangement' would only be taken up for talks only after discussing the matter with the higher officials of the Central Government.

Today's meeting further agreed to have another round of talks very soon.

Jayaraman noted that that just a few rounds of talks would not lead to a desirable solution.

For a perfect solution to be arrived at, more serious talks are necessary.

The demands of UNC would be minutely discussed and later forwarded to the Central Government.

Jayaraman went on to say "till today we have not focused or pay attention to the demand for 'Alternative Arrangement'.

The UNC has been clearly informed that the Manipur Government, which is a constitutional body, is performing its duties efficiently.

As such, there is no room for discussing on the demand for 'Alternative Arrangement' at the moment.

Furthermore, he stated that it would be more appropriate to find out the problems being faced by the people in the hills and discuss on the development strategies needed to be chalked out.

And since the State government has informed that it is taking up various developmental programmes, altogether the meeting discussed issues related to further development works in hill areas.

So, there was no discussing on the Alternative Arrangement.

Chief Secretary DS Poonia told mediapersons that during the meeting, UNC also put forward their viewpoints on the table to be discussed.

The State Government on its part also presented a hard copy of all the developmental programmes taken up by the government in the hill districts and described them in detail.

The delegates of UNC highlighted on the issues related to election of ADCs in the hill districts; the development programmes taken up under PMGSY, NEC and under the funding of the NLCPR, he added.

The Chief Secretary also categorically stated that the State Government had once again ruled out all possibilities of negotiations where the territorial integrity of Manipur is involved and made it clear that the State Government can never discuss the demand of 'Alternative Arrangement'.

However, the State Government is willing to provide more powers to the ADCs.

To the lack of educational and banking facilities in the hill districts which UNC members pointed out, the State Government assured that it would take up all necessary steps to provide the best possible infrastructural development in the educational institutions of the hill districts, he added.