Centre holds talks on creation of districts in Manipur

In a bid to find an amicable solution through dialogues on rollback of new districts in Manipur, another high-level round of tripartite talks involving the Centre, the Manipur Government and United Naga Council was held in Manipur's Senapati district headquarters.

Joint Secretary (North East) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Satyendra Garg, chaired the high-level talks with the participation of three Manipur Government ministers, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Dr .J. Suresh Babu and Commissioner (Works & IPR) K. Radhakumar Singh.

Eleven members of the United Naga Council (UNC), including President Gaidon Kamei participated in the talks.

During the talks, state government representatives agreed to place the objections raised by the UNC representatives on the constitution of District Boundary Commission by the State Government, before the state government for further consideration.

It was also mutually agreed that the previous proceedings will be upheld by the party concerned.

"The Government of Manipur informed in the meeting that they have constituted the District Boundary Commission under a retired high court judge. The UNC had objections to it and had reservation because they thought that they had a patriarchal point of view about the boundary commission. So, government representatives have taken note to it. They will go and discuss it further with the government," Garg said.

Garg added that issues are being considered by the Government of Manipur and sensitivity of the issues are being addressed to find a long lasting solution.

Kamei said, "Just setting up a Boundary Commission or redrawing of the boundary will not solve problem. The crux of the problem needs to be address. "

Dr. J. Suresh Babu said, "The issue is that the commission will look into the boundary, means the villages. We have made our point very clear that in the earlier district creation, there is no question of any village being touched. Earlier, there was a sub-division which has now become a district, which is the upgradation of the administrative set-up. But we literally have not touched any of the villages from one district to another. So, this particular boundary commission which has been set up, we were under the concept that this will address the grievances of the UNC."

It has been decided that the next round of the tripartite talks will be held on November 10.

It is also noteworthy to mention that Ministry of Home Affairs has been chairing the talks right from the first tripartite talks held on March 19, 2017.