Our Correspondent
Imphal, Oct, 31 (EMN): The 9th state-level Chaga Ngee-the biggest festival of the Liangmai community was held at Makuilongdi village in Manipur’s Senapati District on October 30.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh along with Water Resources Minister Awangbow Newmai, Rajya Sabha MP Leishemba Sanajaoba, Chairman(Hill Areas Committee)Dinganglung Gangmei and Tamenglong MLA Janghemlung Panmei were present during the inaugural function of the festival.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister N Biren Singh maintained that the current government aims to empower minority sections of the society and to take them along in the path of development. He said the Manipur Cabinet had earlier recognised the Chaga Ngee Festival and announced the day as a restricted holiday.
Expressing the need to remember the age-old relationship amongst different communities and live together with respect for one another, he expressed his desire to include the history shared by different communities in the syllabus of school students.
He informed that the Heritage Park which is being constructed at Makhel with the cost of INR 6 crore would be completed before this year’s Sangai Festival. Continuing that the Liangmai community of the state had been deprived of access to certain benefits of the government’s welfare programme earlier, he informed that the Manipur government had decided to open a sub-deputy collector’s office at Makui village. The office will be later upgraded to the sub-divisional office, he added.
Considering the historical importance of Makuilongdi village, he announced to install a statue of Haipou Jadonang and the approval of the same would be sanctioned within 15 days besides promising to construct a permanent hall at the ground where the festival was observed today.
In his speech, Minister Awangbow expressed satisfaction that the Chaga Ngee festival is celebrated in a big way and added that the age-old relationships among different communities had been revived.
Rajya Sabha MP Leishemba Sanajaoba also spoke on the occasion wherein the chief minister also handed over the reward of INR 5 lakh to Tapon village, that had earlier announced for voluntarily destroying its poppy plantation. Cultural dances of different cultural troupes were also showcased during the celebration.