Imphal, Aug 11 : Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh today inaugurated the newly constructed houses of earthquake victims at Chalbung and Charhajare villages of Senapati district.
Speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration function held at Chalbung village near Motbung in Senapati district, the Chief Minister said that the devastating earthquake that rocked Manipur on January 4, 2016 hit Senapati district also and damaged a total of 1055 houses fully and 622 houses partially in 7 sub-divisions.
Saying that Manipur falls under the the earthquake prone area lying in zone-v and earthquake being one of the most devastating natural calamities which is unpredictable, the Chief Minister said that one must take due care while constructing houses and other constructions.
Lauding the district administration particularly the Deputy Commissioner of the district for the time bound completion of house construction O Ibobi Singh appealed to complete the target of constructing around 1020 houses in the district. He expressed his happiness to know that nearly 80 percent of the work has been completed. He said that the people of Manipur irrespective of hill or plain have shown their solidarity to work as one during times of natural calamities and expressed his happiness as the villagers of Chalbung and Charhajare belonging to different ethnic communities live harmoniously.
Stating “we should never forget that we are one and we are all Manipuris,” the Chief Minister appealed to all to live harmoniously and make Manipur a peaceful and prosperous State.
Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam who presided over the function said that nobody can face the fury of nature. He appealed to stop building mud houses as Manipur lies within the earthquake prone area and added “prevention is better than cure”. He also appealed for the maintenance of the newly constructed houses.
Earlier, a monolith was unveiled by the Chief Minister commemorating the function and inspected a photo gallery showing photographs of the damaged houses and distribution of relief materials to the villagers of Senapati disrict affected by the devastating earthquake of Jan 4, 2016.
Okendra Singh, Minister RD and PR and Ngamthang Haokip, Minister IFCD who attended as the guests of honour at the function also spoke on the occasion. MLAs Yamthong Haokip and Nemcha Kipgen also attended the function as guests of honour.
Chairman, Vice chairman and other members of Sadar Hills ADC, Principal Secretary RD and PR, Secretary Relief Disaster Mangement, DC Senapati, SP Senapati, ADC Kangpokpi, district level officers etc also attended the function.
It may be mentioned that the newly constructed houses are of 3 types viz. Dry wall construction, Bamboo composite wall and Brick wall construction type which are earthquake resistant designs introduced by DRDA Senapati and constructed under funding from the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India and IAY special package apart from the State.
At Chalbung village which was affected by the earthquake almost completely, 40 such new houses have been constructed with the additional household toilet while in Charhajare village more than 200 houses were damaged in the earthquake.
