Imphal, June 10 2009: Governor Gurbachan Jagat is informed to have written to the State Government to do the needful for holding District Council elections even as reports suggest that development of hill districts suffers to the tune of about Rs 25 crores every year due to non-conduct of the election to the defunct District councils.

According to an official source, the Governor strongly advocated holding of District Council elections without further delay.

On atleast two occasions, Gurbachan Jagat had written to the State authorities to ensure completion of all election-related procedures which the State Government had been mulling to conduct this year.

Even though there is no immediate response from the side of the State Government to the Governor's intimation, the source confided that necessary steps are being taken to hold the District Council elections near the end of the year.

The State Government had actually begun processes to conduct the elections last year but scrapped the schedule as a consequence of the Delimitation exercise of Assembly constituencies that evoked demand for increase in the ACs.

With lapse of more than 20 years since the last District Council election was held which has derailed administration of the Councils, it is said that development funds sanctioned by the 11th Finance Commission for implementation through the local bodies remained un-utilised with regard to the hill districts till date.

On the other hand, a Hills Department source disclosed that the report prepared by the District Council Delimitation Committee to facilitate conduct of the Council polls has already been submitted to the State Government and the same is likely to be soon deliberated upon by the State Cabinet.

Pointing out that task of the Delimitation Committee concerns, among others, increasing the number of District Councils to 24 from 20 and that contents of the 1175 page report finalised by IAS (Retd) Ch Birendra is being kept highly confidential, the source further said there would be no problem in the issuance of electoral roll as the document prepared by the State Election Department can be utilised for the same.

owing to confidential nature of the Ch Birendra-report which was submitted to official/authority concerned in october last there is technical difficulty in presenting copies of the multi-paged document for Cabinet discussion as there is strong apprehension of leakage from printing house (Government press), the source explained regard delay in the preparation and presentation of the report.

Confiding that there was budgetary allocation of Rs 73.80 lakh in the last fiscal to conduct the District Council elections, the source also said with the State Govt in December last deciding to delay the poll process for some time the earmarked fund also lapsed.

Even though there had been proposal for printing of the report by utilising Finance Department machinery the process faced another delay as it collided with the Budget Session of the Assembly, the source maintained but expressed confidence the report could be placed for Cabinet discussion in the form of a Cabinet memorandum.

In case of approval by the State Cabinet, the same report would require examination by the Hill Areas Committee, the source explained and further revealed that against an original amount of Rs 2.50 crores proposed as budgetary provision for the District Council elections this year the proposed amount has been trimmed to Rs 50 lakh.

The trimmed amount further depleted by Rs 47 lakh owing to utilisation of the budgetary allocation in the repairing of those school buildings under the District Councils where polling stations were opened in connection with the recently conducted parliamentary elections for the 15th Lok Sabha, the source added.

Comment