Imphal, May 19: The Manipur Appropriation (No.III) Bill 2007, The Electricity (Manipur Amendment) Bill 2007, The Manipur Reservation of Vacancies in Post and Services (For SC/ST) Second Amendment Bill 2007 and The Manipur Loktak Lake (Protection) Amendment Bill 2007 have been passed unanimously after discussion by the State Assembly today.

During the course of discussion on passing The Manipur Reservation of Vacancies in Post and Services (For SC/ST) Second Amendment Bill 2007, the Opposition contended that there is no specific mention on how much mark relaxation would be given to the SC/ST candidates at the time of recruitment.

The Opposition also asserted that the insistence on passing the Bill without being discussed is undemocratic.

So some time should be allotted for discussion of the Bill before passing.

Consequently, the Speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes for the members to go through the contents of the Bill.

After the session resumed, the members maintained that some of the points that have been missed out may be included afterward and so the Bill may be passed.

While discussing on passing of the Loktak Lake Amendment Bill, the Opposition observed that inclusion of only the representatives of the Assembly Constituencies located around the Lake as members of LDA does not seem proper.

From the side of the Opposition Group it was suggested that representative of the Government of India should also be included among the members along with incorporating some provisions for giving penalty in case of violation of the Act.

Only after Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh assured that efforts would be made to include a representative of the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment and sought the approval of the House for inclusion of the representatives of Wabagai, Hiyanglam, Saitu and Henglep Assembly Constituencies as members of LDA, the bill was cleared unanimously.

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