Imphal, January 21 2009: MANIPUR CHIEF Minister, O Ibobi today called the insurgent organisations of the state to come out for peace talk while reiterating that many hill based militants and one valley militant outfit have come to the negotiating table.

He said this while giving his speech as the chief guest at the celebration of the 37th Statehood Day of Manipur.

The Chief Minister said, without peace in the state, no progress can be made towards development.

The government wants to maintain peace at any cost for development.

The underground groups should come out like the hill based groups and join the efforts of the state government to usher in peace in the state.

"Now the time has arrived for the underground groups ("valley-based") to come out and start talks with the government," Ibobi said adding that one of the "valley-based militant groups" has also responded to the call of the government and started talks.

Manipur today celebrated the 37th Statehood Day with a grand function at the 1st MR Parade Ground here.

The celebration, commemorating the attainment of full-fledged statehood by Manipur on this day in 1972, was attended, besides Chief Minister O Ibobi, by Health and Family Welfare and CADA Minister, Ph Parijat as the president.

However, most of the MLAs and some ministers of the Secular Progressive Front were conspicuous by their absence the function.

The scene has been almost the same in the past years.

In the same celebration last year too, the seats laid for the VIPs were virtually empty.

Further speaking at the celebration, Chief Minister Ibobi visualised Manipur to become one of the most advanced states in the country within 2020 .

"The passage of development in Manipur is gradually marching ahead and it will speed up further with the adoption of the Vision 2020 for the North East Region aimed at achieving economic growth in the region," he said.

However, he said development activities were hampered due to disturbances by the militants in many ways while calling upon them to come out like other hill-based militant groups and one valley-based group with which the government has already begun peace talks.

Ibobi said, as prevalence of peace is an essential criteria for marching ahead with development in a state, "Come out and let's talk about your problems by sitting at the table".

"The door is open.

We always welcome you to solve any problem in a peaceful manner," he said.

He emphasised that no problem could be solved with violent means while reiterating that only through talks problem could be solved.

On the other hand, he also said that the state is progressing much towards development despite hindrances caused by the insurgent activities.

Manipur Health minister, Ph.

Parijat, while addressing the function as president called upon the people of the state to remember the leaders who fought for the state and made this day possible.

While narrating the incident of how Manipur got the statehood, the minister also appealed to all to stop killing which was hampering the development of the state.

The celebration was also graced by the presence of Manipur legislative assembly speaker, S.Budhichandra, cabinet ministers, MLAs and other officials of the state.

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