Imphal, December 19: Fresh elections to the autonomous district councils in the five hill districts are to be held in March next year.

A decision to this effect was taken by the state Governor-in-Council at a meeting held at the Raj Bhavan today.

It may be mentioned that elections to the five autonomous district councils have not been held for the past ten years due to one reason or another.

Today's meeting, attended, apart from the Governor and his two advisors, by top state officials decided to fix the elections to the autonomous district councils on March 20 next.

The council has also decided to re-fix the date for holding panchayat elections, originally scheduled on February 13, on March 6.According to reliable sources, elections to the ADC's and the panchayats are likely to fall after the 8th Assembly polls.

The starvation of funds of NGOs working in the state under the Manipur AIDS Control Society owing to restrictions imposed by the Union ministry of home affairs also came up for discussion in the meeting, and it was decided that release of funds to the two community care centres, viz, LEWS, Chingmeirong and SHALOM, Churachandpur, should be allowed after the concerned state authority conducts the requisite verification.

With regard to other NGOs, it was decided that such verification should be done by officials of the National AIDS Control Organization, NACO.

According to reliable sources, the decision was taken in view of the urgency of the situation faced by HIV patients at the two community care centres.

The council has also approved the release of an amount of Rs 2.08 crores granted by the Centre for carrying out a total of 29 schemes in the three border districts of Chandel, Churachandpur and Ukhrul.

It may be mentioned that the Planning Commission had allotted a total amount of Rs 4.16 crores for carrying out schemes under the Border Area Development Programme in Manipur.

Of this, a first installment of Rs 2.08 crores had been sanctioned by the Planning Commission in September this year.

The schemes to be carried out under the BADP are to be monitored by the state planning department.

The council has also approved the release of a total of Rs 10 crores for purposes of development of district infrastructure to the district authorities of the nine districts, as well as the additional deputy commissioners of Jiribam and Kangpokpi.

Each of the districts is to receive an amount of Rs 1 crore each, while Jiribam and Kangpokpi have each been allocated Rs 50 lakhs each.

The district infrastructure development projects, to be carried out under a priority scheme, are supposed to he completed by March 1, 2002.The concerned DCs and ADCs have been asked to monitor the projects in cooperation with the state planning department.

Further, the council has also accorded sanction to the release pf a sum of Rs 7.5 lakhs for the construction of boundary wall for the Manipur Zoological Garden at Iroisemba.

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