Word of caution from Ibobi : Need for BJP to listen
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 13 2018 -
For a man who was in the hot seat for 15 years on the trot, Okram Ibobi Singh must surely know what he was talking about.
It is this with which the BJP led Government should take the ’suggestion’ of the former Chief Minister, like the pinch of salt to make the pills more palatable.
Inaugurate the projects only after they are fully completed is the sage advice from the former Chief Minister and the BJP led Government need not read anything amiss into this suggestion.
Moreover O Ibobi is also a man who must have known what it is to inaugurate a project before its completion.
Just recall how the Inter State Bus Terminus and the City Convention Centre were inaugurated amidst much fanfare by the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the then AICC president Sonia Gandhi before the 2012 Assembly elections.
Just recall how the projects were finally handed over to the people years after its formal inauguration.
Back then The Sangai Express had gone hammer and tongs at the manner in which these two projects were inaugurated much before their completion and certainly one would not want to see a repeat of what happened during the tenure of the previous Government.
In a way O Ibobi speaks from experience and N Biren, the present Chief Minister too must know this as he was much part of the Congress Government back then.
One can understand why the present BJP led Government will be so keen to inaugurate as many projects as possible to time with its completion in office for one year and the coming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
This is not to say that all the projects lined up for inauguration are far from being completed, but Manipur can certainly do without a Government obsessed with just inaugurating projects to time with the arrival of the Prime Minister and the completion of one year in office.
As things today, the JAC Against Forced Inauguration of Mapithel Dam has already called a 48 hour Statewide bandh from midnight of March 14 to midnight of March 16 against the proposal to inaugurate the dam.
No one should support bandhs and blockades, but this does not mean that the State Government can overlook the point that not all are happy with the manner in which the Mapithel Dam has come up.
A question of not addressing the plight of the people who stand to be affected by the dam and this can certainly mean that not everything is ready with the Dam before its inauguration.
This is one point which need to be seriously studied.
Why not ink an agreement with the local people before the Dam is commissioned or inaugurated ?
This is but one example that comes to mind and this should more than say that the present Government cannot afford to overlook all the finer aspects of any project before going ahead and inaugurating them.
It however is good that the Government is walking the extra mile to do the mopping up work and get ready for the Prime Minister and Home Minister for it is not everyday that Manipur gets to hosts such leaders.
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