IMPHAL, Aug 5: A day after a talk between the state government and mediators on the issue of separate Sadar Hills demand had turned out inconclusive, an emergency meeting of the state cabinet which was convened this evening has also failed to finalize on the demands of the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee.
According to a reliable source, an emergency cabinet was convened this evening under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh at his official bungalow to consider the assurances that the Chief Minister had provided to the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee yesterday in a meeting with mediators of the demand committee, wherein the Chief Minister had personally acknowledged the separate district demand as genuine.
The source further said that today’s cabinet meeting was convened keeping in mind the assurance of the state Chief Minister to put the demands of the demand committee before the state cabinet.
The meeting also discussed the various technical inputs provided by the hills department regarding the demand and the feasibility of declaring Sadar Hills as a separate district.
Furthermore, the same source maintained that due to the lack of official technical presentation by the district administration concern on the feasibility of declaring a separate district and after failure of the authorities concern to provide reports on the various expected complaints from various communities incase of sudden announcement of Sadar Hills as a separate district, the state cabinet has decided to act after consideration of all concerned official documents prepared by the relative departments of the state.
Considering the gravity of the situation at the moment, the state cabinet has today decided to first discuss all relevant documents from the concerned line departments before considering the issue again in the next cabinet seating which will be convened at the earliest possible.
Further acknowledging the grievances of the passengers and transporters who have been stranded at Senapati since the last few days due to the imposition of the economic blockade and subsequent indefinite general strike call by the SHDDC along the national highways since August 1, the cabinet has also decided to provide special security measure to bring the stranded passengers and truckers to their destinations as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the state cabinet also touched upon the issue of various government offices remaining paralysed including educational institutions in the state due to the cease work strike of government employees under the spearheading of the FECTAM over the failure of the state government to implement UGC pay scale as approved under the 6th Central Revised Pay since August 1.
However, the cabinet which ended at around 7 in the evening failed to finalized on any clear cut decision on the FECTAM demands and has further decided to take it to the next cabinet meeting, added the source.