'Need to understand why hill MLAs stay in Imphal'
Source: Chronicle News Service

Kakching, December 01 2021: Rebutting chief minister N Biren's statement at a political conference at Noney town on Tuesday not to elect representatives who stay at MLA quarters at Imphal for five years after winning the election, Tengnoupal MLA D Korungthang stressed the need to understand why MLAs have to stay in their quarters in Imphal.

Speaking as chief guest at the 35th Annual Sports Meet of Aimol Students Union Manipur held at Aimol Satu village, Tengnoupal district on Wednesday, Korungthang described the CM's clarion call to vote for those who will reside in their constituency as a very serious comment.

Everybody loves the place where they were born and brought-up, MLAs contest elections to serve the people of their land.

The MLAs stay in their quarters in Imphal to work for the welfare of the people of their respective ACs, he noted.

Korungthang observed that public should understand the problems faced by the MLAs of both hills and valley.

The area covered by a valley constituency is very different from the area coverage of a hill constituency, the roadway infrastructure also needs to be considered as well as the issues faced by a hill MLA.

If you understand these problems you will automatically realise why hill MLAs have to stay in Imphal, he emphasised.

The MLA also said forget about hill MLAs even MLAs who have been elected from constituencies in Imphal put up in government quarters.

The better quarters are grabbed by MLAs who are outspoken and are close to the chief minister.

Most of the squabbling over quarters is done by MLAs from the Imphal area only, he claimed.

Korungthang pointed out that hill MLAs necessarily require larger funds for developing their respective ACs as the areas under hill ACs are huge, have hilly topography and suffer from poor road connectivity.

And these funds can be availed only from Imphal as all the government departments are centralised in Imphal.

On top of that, all major district officials are also based in Imphal.

There is need to decentralise the administration from Imphal, as the administration is unaware of problems faced by the people of hills and rural areas, he said.

The MLA further conveyed that though the motto of 'Go to Village', 'Go to Hills' is catchy, but in ground reality nothing has changed.

Just visiting a place will not do anything, what is more important is to gauge the deficiency of the place and execute orders to fulfil it.

This can only be achieved if there are funds and same allocated sufficiently for development people are unlikely to raise complaints, he stated.

MLA Korungthang maintained that people are blaming each other for problems in hills and valley with politicians too in the same frame of mind.

Hill people decry that they have been overlooked, while valley folks say no such thing has happened.

This is happening because they are not understanding each other's problem.

He also stressed that issue of Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Council Bill 2021 can be resolved if it is tabled in the assembly and discussed thoroughly on whether it can be implemented or not or it should be amended.

Otherwise, blaming one another will only make it a bigger issue.

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