Imphal, October 26: Despite repeated memoranda submitted to the state government for the last five years by the villagers in Saikul subdivision for the development of the area, the government has not initiated even a single development work till today, according to bitter villagers here.

Saikul subdivision, located in Senapati district, is barely 39 kilometers from Imphal, but suffers from poor transport and communication facilities; while no development work of any note has taken place in the area.

The journey from Saikul to Imphal should ordinarily take no more than 15 or 20 minutes, but it takes more than an hour by passenger buses because of the bad road.

According to Zangam Khongsai, vice president of the Kuki Inpi, Saikul, the road, which connects Saikul with Imphal via Ikou, has not been maintained by the government for the last 15 or so years.

Local people have in the meantime decided not to wait for the government and commenced work for repairing the road themselves.

There are no telecommunication facilities, and Khongsai says that the people of the area would face great problems in case anything untoward happens, considering the unsettled law and order situation.

The story of Saikul is identical to that of a hundred other villages in the hill areas of the state.

Supply of electricity is extremely irregular in the subdivision, and the only primary health centre is in a state of near paralysis due to government neglect.

Thangjang Misao, president, AMSU, Senapati district committee, observed that Saikul was one of the malaria prone areas of the state, and due to the disease every year more than 10 innocent lives arc lost.

He said that despite knowing this, the state health department has not taken up any preventive measures.

He added that though there were two higher secondary schools and a number of high schools in the subdivision, most of them have also been paralyzed because of prolonged neglect.

He further pointed out that though the office of a deputy inspector of schools was recently opened in the area, the office has remained closed till today, and the DI himself and his staff have never been seen in the area.

He also observed that the state government had set up the offices of 17 separate government departments in the subdivision but most of these offices, including that of the SDO, Saikul, and those of the electricity, PWD, social welfare, veterinary and agriculture departments were non-functional.

Due to the failure of these departments, there has been no progress in any development activities, he said.

All the representations made by the public in this regard have been in vain and the people were still living as they have been for me last 70 years, he said.

Another villager said the residents of the area were feeling insecure because of me lack of adequate security.

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