Govt sole authority of state: CM Biren
Source: Chronicle News Service / DIPR
Imphal, November 13 2021:
Manipur government is the sole authority of the state and India government is for the nation, stated chief minister N Biren Singh, while maintaining that the present government would not allow existence of un-mandated authorities in the state.
The present government would not succumb to any unreasonable pressure from any organisation and anyone interested in politics could join the profession, the chief minister said and strongly called for inclusion of human service and development while doing politics.
The hard-earned peace brought in barely five years rule of the present government would vanish in short time if people of the state follow wrong propaganda of some disgruntled politicians, Biren said during die launch ceremony of' Chief Minister-gi CSC Singgi Tengbang' and public Wi-Fi hotspots in hill districts on Saturday.
Chief Minister-gi CSC Singgi Tengbang is an incentive scheme for Common Service Centres (CSCs) of the state.
Addressing gathering at the ceremony held at City Convention Centre, CM Biren urged CSCs to be careful and honest in issuing and updating important documents like Aadhaar cards.
Even a slight negligence or insincerity due to greed for money may prove disastrous for the whole nation and the state because wrong persons from foreign countries may get hold of such important documents, he pointed out.
As such, CSC operators must always have the notion of Nation's security first' in their mind, he added.
Under Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi's mission to bring equal development and opportunities in all parts of the country, many noble schemes have been launched, and enrolment for all these schemes can be done online now.
As such, there is a need for expansion of digital reach to interior parts of the state as well, Biren said, adding that Wi-Fi hotspots have been launched in different villages of hill districts under this initiative.
Now, enrolment for state and Central government schemes can be done at village chiefs' house, he informed.
N Biren also urged the public to call the phone number of CM Da Haisi' (9534795347) to clear any doubt.
Apart from various development works taken up in the past four and half years, initiatives to strengthen the CSCs and expand digital connectivity to interior hill villages are the testimonies of the state government's concern for progress and development of hill districts.
Infrastructure development works in interior districts like Tamenglong are tell-tale examples of government' s commitment towards actualising progress of the hills, he said.
Stating that there is need for household-wise and village-wise upliftment in order to materialise the goal of egalitarian development, the chief minister observed that bringing village authorities into confidence for it is of prime importance.
While asserting that the present government has a strong commitment to develop the hill districts, the chief minister said he was the first person to raise the issue of topographical need-based budget for the states having both hills and plains.
As a result, the Government of India introduced the Hill Area Development Programme under which Tamenglong district had already received Rs 90 crore for development works.
He said that incentive scheme for CSCs has been formulated keeping in view of the fact that most of the CSCs are unable to sustain their business due to low service fee paid to them resulting in poor performance.
Accordingly, the state government released incentives to these CSCs for a period of one year and proposed to continue the incentive scheme for CSCs in order to support them and ensure viability, he added.
CSCs have been providing services like Aadhaar enrolment and updation, digital literacy, Digital Life Certificate (Jeevan Pramaan), Aadhaar enabled payment system in support of digital cashless transaction, utility payments such as electricity, telephone, water bills, etc.
Furthermore, the state government has taken up an initiative to convert 50 per cent of these CSCs to business correspondents to provide banking facilities in unbanked areas of the state.
For providing government's services to the citizens at their doorsteps, a total of 1000 plus CSCs have been established in Manipur, he added.
On the other hand, to fill up the prevailing connectivity gap between Gram Panchayats and Block Headquarters at the village level for empowering rural masses by giving them access to information, public services including those of education, health and financial inclusion, government of Manipur in association with Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) has taken up an initiative to provide public Wi-Fi especially in hill districts, Biren said.
Public Wifi hotspots aim to facilitate connectivity in the remotest part of hill districts Using VSAT connection provided by the Government of India.
So far, BBNL hasin-stalled Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) along with receivers, batteries and solar panels in the village chief house and has successfully commissioned around 1,122 sites.
However, most of the villages in hill districts are not able to meet the required internet connectivity benefits due to minimal coverage of the network beyond the terminating point.
To address the issue of minimal coverage of the network beyond the terminating point, the State Government is providing Wifi routers free of cost as an infrastructure support for 1122 VSAT sites to extend connectivity to the last mile, Biren added.
During the programme, the chief minister handed over incentive cheques to CSCs under the Chief Minister CSC Singgi Tengbang as well as presented prizes for best district CSC for 16 districts and Wifi router to village chief and BBNL.
Short videos on CSCs activities in the state and public Wifi hotspots at hill districts were also screened during the programme.
Agriculture minister Oinam Lukhoi, MP Leishemba Sanajaoba, Singhat MLA Ginsuanhau, chief secretary Dr Rajesh Kumar and deputy director general (Telecom) Brijesh Prajapati and other government officials attended the programme.
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