Imphal, February 20: To a calling attention motion raised by MLA O Joy of MPP that the Imphal Sewerage Project taken up for the welfare of the people has become more of a trouble, PHE Minister TN Haokip has appealed to bear with the inconvenience till October 2009 .

Moving the motion, Joy asked the House whether the people should bear the trouble till October 2009 even though the stipulated period to complete the Rs 134.75 crore project is just three years.

The Sewerage Project was taken up at Imphal under an agreement between the Government of India and the Government of France in 1998, Joy asserted.

Alleging that the failure of the State Government to provide proper financial assistance to the work agents currently engaged in executing phase I of the project has been impeding work progress, Joy asked whether the project cost as its stands today would suffice to execute the project completely.

MLA RK Anand supporting the motion observed that the project was properly executed at Assembly Road while at other areas, the project was executed in haphazard manner.

Anand sought attention of the House to execute the project properly in all the areas it covers.

Responding to the call attention motion, PHE Minister TN Haokip stated that the project taken up to control water pollution in Imphal city covers 11 wards of the Imphal Municipal Council in the first phase.

He assured that the first phase will be completed by October 2009 .

As the earlier agreement signed for the project expires in March this year, officials of the PHED will be leaving for Paris to sign another MoU and to extend the period stipulated earlier to complete the project.

A greater part of the project work will be completed by March this year in Imphal Bazar areas which form the core area of the project.

Remarking that the inconvenience being encountered by the people due to execution of the project is a new experience, TN Haokip informed that out of 250 main holes included in the project plan, 210 holes have been built.

He claimed that the Imphal Sewerage Project is a pioneer project in the whole North East region.

The foundation stone of the project was laid by former Governor Ved Marwah in 2002.Other States have been sought to share the expertise of the engineers and contractors currently engaged in executing the Sewerage Project.

Question hour : Survey work for the proposed highway from Tupul to Kasom Khullen via Bishnupur, Mayang Imphal and Yairipok which would be financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be initiated by May 31 this year.

This was stated by Works Minister K Ranjit in response to a query put up by MLA K Wungnaoshang during question of the budget session today.

Construction work of the highway will be taken up in 2008-09 once the 'working season' arrives after completion of the survey work, Ranjit informed the House.

Of the total 5288 metric tonnes of bitumen required for the current fiscal year, 2350 metric tonnes have already been procured, he stated to another query raised by MLA Ng Bijoy.

The Works further assured that there would be no shortage of bitumen.

During the question hour, Social Welfare Minister N Loken refuted the allegation of MLA V Hangkhalian that no advertisement was published before the recruitment of Anganwadi workers and helpers.

During the Zero Hour, MLA Dr I Ibohalbi sought attention of the House towards the recent incident of robbery from a team of BJP Manipur Pradesh Mahila Morcha at Nagaon, Assam .

Observing that the highway is not safe for travellers, the MLA urged upon the Government to take up necessary measures to check such robbery.

MLA Ng Bijoy drew the attention of the House towards abduction of PWD's Surveyor of Works Ngangbam Manglemjao and IFCD SO Ngangbam Shanti by the KLA.

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