Govt committed to make Manipur bandh & blockade-free: Guv

Governor Najma Heptulla today said the government will try its best to make Manipur a blockade and bandh-free state to ensure its all-round development.
Addressing the first session of the 11th Manipur assembly, Heptulla also said the state government is fully committed to implement pro-people policies.
The N Biren Singh-led BJP coalition government had won the floor test yesterday in the state assembly.
The governor's address to the assembly followed a day after the lifting of nearly five-month-long economic blockade on the national highways in Manipur on the midnight intervening March 19 & 20 after tripartite talks.
The blockade had been imposed by the United Naga Council since November 1, 2016 protesting the creation of seven new districts by the then O Ibobi Singh government.

Heptulla said her government will make all out efforts to ensure that blockades and bandhs are a thing of past.

On the law and order front, the governor expressed satisfaction that the police effectively contributed to the peaceful conduct of the state assembly elections early this month.
She said the Manipur police has achieved the commendable success on the counter-insurgency front despite being plagued by problems of man-power shortage and infrastructure and other logistic constraints.
The governor said her government will focus its efforts to enhance the specialised skills of the police force to deal with the present situation effectively.

She said her government will make all-out efforts to make Manipur one of the most developed states in the region by harnessing the potential benefits of the Union government's 'Act East Policy,' which will lead to Manipur becoming a peaceful and prosperous state with all communities living together harmoniously.
"To address the issues of unemployment and insurgency faced by the state, my government will utilise resources of the state in creation of employment for the youth through skill development and capacity building in both the organised and unorganised sectors," said the governor.
In order to improve the regional air connectivity in the state, a MoU was signed between the Manipur government and the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for introduction of the chopper service, she said.

"There is also a good progress in construction of Jiribam-Tupul railway line," she added.
Heptulla said Manipur had a tentative plan size of Rs 4,349.55 crore and based on the likely availability of the additional resources, it has been revised to Rs 5,255.27 crore including Rs 2,613.77 crore as the Central share for various centrally-sponsored schemes.