IMPHAL, October 27: The State government has put in place several measures for scanning Ebola at every entry points to Manipur, stated Chief Minister Okram Ibobi on the sidelines of the swearing in ceremony of the newly elected Hiyanglam MLA, Elangbam Dwijamani.
As a part of the upcoming Sangai festival, the concerned authorities have taken up precautionary measures to detect the deadly Ebola virus in various entry points of the State such as the Tulihal Airport, and entry gates at Jiribam and Moreh etc, Ibobi said.
He pointed out that the case of the Japanese tourist who was initially feared to be showing symptoms of Ebola and was admitted at the JNIMS hospital, entered the State through Moreh.
Even Hajj pilgrims from the State were screened through small equipments which can detect the fatal disease at the Airport as they have come in contact with people from Africa at their holy place and have high risk of being infected with the virus, the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister also said the State government will soon be providing visa-on-arrival facility to foreign tourists entering the State at Moreh as the equipments needed for enabling the facility has reached Imphal, stated Chief Minister Okram Ibobi.
A permanent passport office is yet to be opened in Imphal although passports have been issued from Imphal from temporary offices set up periodically at Imphal, he said.
He said the State government has urged the concerned authorities to establish a regular passport office in Manipur.
Emphasising that the Moreh route is favoured by Myanmar nationals entering Manipur for medical and other purposes, he said the Visa office in Moreh is yet to become fully operational as it lacks the visa on arrival facility.
Ibobi said he discovered that the equipments needed for visa on arrival facility at Moreh has already been delivered in Imphal.
The Custom office at Moreh where visas will be issued on arrival has been renovated, he added.
The equipments are provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs but the visa-on-arrival office will worked under the Ministry of External Affairs, the Chief Minister said adding that the equipments will be installed soon.
Talking about the Sanjenthong Bridge, he said 80 percent of the construction materials, mostly steel items, are already in hand but a technical problem related with the hanger persists as it is made in France and Germany only.
It is yet to be delivered even after the State government has placed an order, he added.
Assembling the bridge and hence its inauguration will not take long if the hanger reaches Imphal, he said.