Centre, state and UNC discuss issue of new district creation in Manipur

Our Correspondent Imphal, May 19 (EMN): The tripartite talks involving the centre, Manipur government, and the United Naga Council (UNC) to resolve the issue about creation of new districts in Manipur was conducted at Senapati on Saturday. UNC President Gaidon Kamei and Secretary S Milan led a team of 11 members to the talks. Unlike the last round of talks, only two Manipur ministers namely, V Hangkhalian (Agriculture), and Th Radheshyam (Education) besides two senior officials-Principal Secretary (Finance & Health) Vumlunmang Vualnam and Secretary (Revenue) T Ranjit, represented the state government. Joint Secretary and Ministry of Home Affairs Satyendra Garg attended the talks which aimed at finding an amicable solution following the creation of seven new districts in Manipur by the previous Congress government in December 2016. The newly formed districts are Jiribam, Kangpokpi, Kamjong, Kakching, Noney, Pherzawl, and Tengnoupal. Earlier, the state had only nine districts — Bishnupur, Chandel, Churachandpur, Imphal West, Imphal East, Senapati, Tengnoupal, Thoubal, and Ukhrul. The UNC had protested the creation of new districts, particularly Kangpokpi and Jiribam, when O Ibobi was the chief minister. They had even imposed economic blockade for more than 100 days on all national highways which pass through Manipur. However, the agitation was withdrawn following an understanding with the newly-formed BJP-led coalition government which came to power in March 2017. It was the seventh round. The first round was held on March 19, 2017.During the day’s talks, the points which were agreed earlier were reviewed and UNC showed strong reaction to non adherence of the following agreed points that there was “non-adherence to the 4 Memorandum of Understanding with Government of Manipur and Government of India’s assurance on the matter.” Reacting to the talks which lasted for almost 2 hours, Kamei said, “The state government is not committed enough to resolve the problems. They need proper homework for the talks.” However the state government agreed to prepare concrete proposal in the next round of talks which will be held on July 28 2018.