Source: The Sangai Express / Jacob Panmei
Jiribam, September 28:
The office of the Employment Exchange in the sub-division of Jiribam under Imphal East district has been lying forgotten by the public for a quite long time.
One must not be surprised if it takes a whole day in tracing the office being run from one staff quarter of PWD, that too located in a corner of Babupara, Jiribam.
Echoing the same, a student who wished to enrol his name at the Exchange stated that he along with his companions took hours to locate the office.
If one is lucky enough to locate the office, on reaching there he/she will find only two employees attending to their duties in a pitiable condition.
It is said that in all three employees, one Assistant Employee Officer (AEO), one LDC and one peon, have been posted at the Jiri Employment Exchange.
But the LDC has not reported to the office for duty taking the job for granted.
Notably, the office was burnt down to ashes by an irate mob in 1998 .
After that a temporary office was opened at Imphal in 1999.The office was finally re-established again in Jiri in 2000 running from one PWD quarters.
Talking to this correspondent, the AEO identified as Ahmad Ali admitted that lack of staff has been hindering the work of the office as he along with the Peon have been left all alone to look after the affairs of running the office.
When asked about putting up atleast a signboard of the office, he disclosed that the sign board which is being kept in a corner of the office cannot be displayed as he is apprehensive that the agitators of any movement in Jiri may target the office again.
So he cannot take the risk of putting up the signboard again, lest it is targeted, the AEO added.
He also lamented that the head office of the Employment Exchange at Lamphel has not sent anything worth mentioning, be it reimbursement or LOC.
The office is being run and maintained from own expenses till date, he said ruing that there is also no provision of staff quarters.
Even the sign board which is lying in a corner of the office, he said, had been made from his own pocket at the cost of Rs 900 .
The pitiable condition of the office is thrown open for all to see, he added.
Apart from being poorly connected to Imphal, Jiribam has had to bear the burden of poor infrastructure.