CS scans new secretariat building site
Source: Chronicle News Service / DIPR

Imphal, October 23 2023: Chief Secretary Dr Vineet Joshi on Monday inspected the present status of the new state civil secretariat complex in Mantripukhri area, the construction of which had been halted owing to an order of Manipur High Court.

Te construction work of the secretariat, which began in 2010 by Simplex Projects Pvt Ltd, Kolkata, was reassigned to Sri Avantika Infrastructure Pvt Ltd in 2021, following failure to keep its commitment by the former.

It is reported that Simplex completed nearly 65 per cent of the work.

After two-and-half-year of execution by Avantika, the project was again cancelled by the government for similar reasons with about 75-85 per cent of whole construction project completed.

According to a deal with the government, Avantika was supposed to complete the remaining construction of the complex within a year of taking over.

With a prayer to allow them to complete the work, Avantika moved the same court.

Since the matter is pending in the court, construction had been halted till the court gives its final verdict.

Coinciding with the appointment of Justice Siddharth Mridul on Friday as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Manipur, Dr Joshi along with Chief Engineer (CE) of Manipur Public Works Department (PWD) Ningombam Subhash and other officials of the department visited the site.

The Chief Secretary exuded confidence that the civil secretariat building would soon be completed.

He inspected the rooms in the north, south and ministers' blocks and the three core components of the new civil secretariat.

CE Subhash revealed that the north and south blocks will house offices of bureaucrats, while ministers and elected representatives, officiating public sector undertakings, will occupy offices in the ministers' block.

He added that the ministers' block is the strongest of the three buildings that are all earthquake resistant.

Explaining the layout of the building, the CE said that the civil secretariat would have its own sewage treatment plant and an ancillary block for the maintenance staff, security personnel, chowkidars, canteen and offices for banks.

Disaster Management Department and the information technology-based departments like IT Data centre, NIC would occupy the ground floor, Subhash said, adding that the Civil Secretariat is part of the Capitol project of the state government.

The other two components of the Capitol project which had already been completed and functional include Manipur Legislative Assembly at Chingmeirong and the High Court of Manipur at the nearby Sangakpham area in the same district.

In April this year, the Manipur High Court had asked the state government to complete the construction work of the new Secretariat to decongest traffic in the areas where the civil secretariat is currently located at Babupara, in Imphal city.

The next hearing of the petition, which followed a petition filed by Sri Avantika Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, is scheduled on November 2 .

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