The Editors Guild Manipur called on the Governor Najma Heptula at her Raj Bhavan residence here today. A Mobi, president of the EGM led the team which included news editors of both print and electronic media.
According to a release, the Governor had a lively interaction with the editors for about an hour. She said media has been her greatest friends when she was in the Parliament, and also expressed desire to work closely with its fraternity. She extended invitation to the local media to meet her whenever need arises, it said.
The Governor said the priorities of the people of Manipur are her priority, and within the short period of assuming charge in office, she could see communication has remained a challenge, it said. She said after being sworn in she met series of union ministers and has been highlighting the issues of Manipur, it added.
She also maintained that railway is going to take some time, so we need to focus on road connectivity and airlines. She said she requested union minister, Nitin Gadkari on the condition of road communication. On the civil aviation side, she said she has urged the civil aviation to consider direct flights to Imphal at least once a week to encourage domestic tourist, said the release.
Further it continued communication and health issues are of concern to the Governor and accordingly, she has proposed the concept for a “Flying Doctors” to reach out to far flung areas to the Prime Minister. She said this can really help needy people in the remote inaccessible places, it added.
The EGM expressed that the media was willing to work with her on issues concerning the people. The team recommended that she visit the hill areas to get the first-hand areas to get the first-hand knowledge of the problem they face as well as understand the rich cultural diversity of Manipur, said the release.
The issue of 2 National Highways, more particularly the Imphal-Jiribam highway was stressed, stating that ‘the British took few weeks to connect Silchar to Imphal, that too in the war time condition while Indian government has failed to maintain it in the last 70 years of independence’. The Governor assured that she would take up the issue with the Union ministry, it added.
