The memorandum submitted by the newly formed committee stated that the villagers of Wangjing gram panchayat area under the affected areas of the 10 wards which are proposed to be delimited to incorporate into WLMC have voiced their objection to the extension of the municipal boundary of the WLMC, Thoubal.

The extension had added 17 wards under three gram panchayats into the WLMC vide approval of the cabinet meeting held on June 22, 2022, of the government of Manipur, it mentioned. As most of the villagers fall under the below-poverty line (BPL) category, they availed financial benefits from the various rural development schemes such as the MGNREGS, it continued.

“The schemes which are taken up by the municipal council are mostly contractual and will not be able to provide direct benefit to the people of the area,” it read.

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, government of Manipur joint secretary Ng Roben Singh issued a notification on January 25 which stated, “in pursuance of rule 2 of the Manipur delimitation of gram sabhas rules,1996, the existing 17 wards under three gram panchayats namely Wangjing GP, Wangbal GP and Sangaiyumpham GP are proposed to be removed or delimited from the boundaries of the existing concerned GPs.

The affected wards in the notification list include ward no 1 to 10 from Wangjing GP, ward number 5, 6 and 7 from Wangbal GP and ward number 1 to 4 from Sangaiyumpham GP.” The notification also seeks views, objections and representations of the general public residing in the proposed area.