Hill districts in Manipur are likely to witness intense form of agitations, including highway bandh, ahead of 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly Election 2022, as the hill areas village chiefs decided to support the protest by the Manipur Panchayat Parishad over non-release of the pending Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREG) funds by the state government.
Chiefs of villages in Kangpokpi district held a crucial meeting on Thursday at the district headquarters in the presence of Manipur Panchayat Parishad members over the non-release of MGNREGA pending funds. After a threadbare discussion, they unanimously resolved to support the agitations spearheaded by the Manipur Panchayat Parishad with a positive response from other hill areas village chiefs.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Laxmi Khatiwoda, vice-president, Champhai Block Chiefs/Chairmen Association, on behalf of the hills village chiefs, said that they have deliberated minutely over the non-release of MGNREGA pending fund by the state government and ultimately decided to support and endorse the Manipur Panchayat Parishad’s movement over the issue.
Khatiwoda continued that as they have decided to support and endorsed Manipur Panchayat Parishad they have also unanimously decided to impose intense form of agitations including highway bandh from February 9 if the state Government fails to release the pending amount of Rs 113.87 crore meant for payment of wages of the MGNREGA sanctioned by the Centre on or before February 8.
The VP also said that the Centre Government had already sanctioned Rs 333,08,74,000 (Rupees Three Hundred Thirty Three Crore Eight Lakh and Seventy Four Thousand) on August 25, 2021 to the State Government of Manipur as Central assistance for implementation of the MGNREGA for the financial year 2021-22 and directed the state government to transfer these funds along with the state share to the State Employment Guarantee Fund for programme implementation within three days positively from the date of receipt of the funds.
However, the state government had released Rs 87 crore only against sanctioned amount by the Centre in August 2021, while keeping on hold Rs 113.87 crore meant for payment of wages of the MGNREGA, he said.
"We are demanding the release of all the funds sanctioned by the Centre as the state government has no reason to delay in releasing the funds," he said.
He continued that if the state government remained adamant towards our demand and failed to release the fund we will go ahead with our unanimous decision adopted today in collaboration with the Manipur Panchayat Parishad along with other hill areas village chiefs.
Mentioned may be made that the Manipur Panchayat Parishad and the elected Panchayati Raj Institutions functionaries across the six valley districts of Manipur, including Jiribam district had already resorted to various form of agitations against the non-release of funds for MGNREGA and other schemes being implemented through the PRIs.
After they boycotted the Republic Day celebration, they had also imposed a 38-hour bandh in the panchayat covered areas of the six districts on January 27 and which ended on January 28.
