IMPHAL, September 26: Manipur Legislative Assembly member L Ibomcha Singh has said the onus of bringing a solution to the Dzuko Valley imbroglio lies with the State government.
In a signed statement, the MLA said “State Archives of the government ofManipur have lately reported in the local dailies that in the first report of 1924 published by British India Government according to its survey conducted during 1922-23, it is clearly reflected that Dzuko valley is a part of Manipur and which is also clearly substantiated in the map contained in the 1942 reprint edition.”
“Therefore, the onus of bringing a solution to the Dzuko valley imbroglio lies with the State Government.”
He said the State government should immediately file a “Declarity Suit” in the Supreme Court against the government of Nagaland under Article 131 of the Indian Constitution and made to declare that Dzuko valley belongs to Manipur only.
“There have been instances where Supreme Court has decided that there will be no time limitation in such civil suits. The government should arrange to raise the required fund from the MLAs if the government has no funds to initiate such suit,” he said.
The MLA also reacted to the reported looting of drivers and handymen of some 20 trucks along the Imphal Jiribam Highway on the night of September 24 and said it is indeed unfortunate to learn that some well armed unidentified persons from the hills had extorted money and mobile handsets in possession of the drivers and the handymen after stopping their trucks.
“According to news reports, around 450 empty trucks left Imphal for Jiribam on the very day. It is also said that only 19 escort vehicles accompanied the 450 trucks.”
The MLA continued it seems that the escort vehicles might have accompanied in between the empty trucks.
“I really appreciate the expertise of the security personnel of the 19 escort vehicles in peacefully tackling the incident by letting the looters carry out their extortion without wasting a single bullet thereby preventing any collateral damages to both the parties,” the statement said.
He further appealed to the State government “to ensure in future that the escort personnel carry video cameras to record the actions of the heroes coming out to extort on the way.”
“I feel that increasing the number of escorts will be of no use if well trained security personnel having the capacity to handle such situations with determination, dedication and voluntariness to face such situations are not assigned in the team.”
The government should ensure that security personnel in such escorts team are insured and given a daily allowance ten times more than the allowance given on normal duty, he concluded his statement.