Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, October 12 2010:
Even though Manipur players are in the limelight in the ongoing New Delhi Common Wealth Games 2010, no satisfactory information has been passed to the people, because the authority was unable to open a media cell at the venue of the international event.
Other states have opened media cells and are passing information regarding performance of their players in the Games, but it is not so for Manipur.
Authority of the state government had planned to open a media cell but it failed to materialize.
The 10 day international event is going to end by October 14 .
Official sources said that state Directorate of Information and Public Relation (DIPR) had submitted a proposal for opening a media cell so that performances of the state players in the Game could be highlighted through the local media from time to time.
The DIPR submitted the proposal well in advance on September 18, but higher authority of the government cleared the proposal on October 5, that is, on the third day after the Games began.
That too in the last hour of office, the source said.
Despite, the delay in getting the nod, DIPR processed the file process and put it up to the higher authority for necessary follow up work and seeking financial clearance from the IPR commissioner.
But the file put up on October 6 was tended to on October 10 as government offices observed holidays on October 8, 9 and 10 .
The DIPR had even selected officials to be deputed for operating the media cell.
They also planned to prepare and dispatch detailed bio-datas of state players who secured medals.
But, due to non-availability of dealing officers at the secretariat, the file remained untouched.
As a result of this, the process for opening the media cell at last went in vain.
Sources maintained that if the file process started form August, the opening of the cell could have been translated into work.
In the ongoing Common Wealth Games 2010, a total of 17 players from the state are representing the country in various disciplines.
Most of them had secured medals including gold.
But, the performances of the state players could not be highlighted in the media.
The mistake on the part of the government is the bad luck for the state players as well as for the people of the state, many observed.