Claiming that the recently opened Olympian Park is legally and technically located in the hill district, the All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur (ATSUM) urged the state government to rectify the official address of the much-touted Olympian Park.
ATSUM Legal Secretary Vipuni Ruhmai, stated people of Manipur, including the hill people, welcome the recently opened Olympian Park which was handed over to the public by the state chief minister as it is a fitting tribute to the nineteen Olympians from Manipur but the government’s attitude over the park’s official address does not get down well with the hill people as the whole gamut comes as an insult to them.
He asserted that the official address of the Olympian Park is given as Sangaithel, Imphal West whereas the park is actually located in the hill district of Kangpokpi.
As such, the official address of the park given by the government as Imphal West left many of the hill people of the area dumbfounded, he added.
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Claiming that the land where the park stood is hill land, the ATSUM legal secretary pointed out that it [the land] was donated by the local land owner to the sericulture department and the government later acquired it from the sericulture department to build the Olympian Park.
He also pointed out that the land was not donated to Sangaithel village by the local landowner but to the government, therefore, the official address of the park need not bear the name of Sangaithel village while adding that the land and the park where it stood must bear the name of the village and the district that donate it.
He continued that there are many projects of grandeur undertaken by the state government and the Olympian Park is one of them while adding that the feeling of the hill people is such that what harm is there if one of such projects is located in the hill district, after all, the Olympian Park is legally and the technically located in the hill district.
The policy of the government to locate all its major projects in the valley has to change, asserted the ATSUM legal secretary while urging the state government to rectify its oversight over the Olympian Park’s official address at the earliest as what is located in the hill area has to bear the name of the respective district.
