Imphal, November 17: Making its stand clear, the United Committee Manipur today said that the office of the UCM is not at Kekrupat but added that the office of the Construction Committee was set up there to finalise the conceptual plan of Kekrupat where the mortal remains of the 18 martyrs who laid down their lives to protect the territory of Manipur were put to rest.

In a statement, UCM recounted the series of events that led to the formation of the Construction Committee and added that till date the work of ground levelling, river bund and Kekrupat pond have been completed with the help of the people and the Government.

The construction of Gate number I has also been conceptualised, said UCM and added that the work on the common monument for the 18 martyrs is yet to be finalised.

The aspiration of the Construction Committee of the UCM is to make the common monument a living memorial complex, said UCM and added that after the Prime Minister handed over Kangla to the people of Manipur on November 20 last year, UCM has been extending its co-operation to the Kangla Fort Board in constructing the wall on the eastern side.

Kekrupat also came under the supervision of Kangla Fort Board.

UCM also acknowledges that Kekrupat is inside Kangla and to forge an understanding with the Kangla Fort Board the Construction Committee had submitted papers to the Board regarding the conceptual plan of Kekrupat.

At the moment the construction work of Gate number I is yet to be completed and only the foundation stone of the Common Monument has been laid with no further progress.

From 2001 to 2003 July the UCM had its office at Wangkhei near the Eastern Ground.

To overcome the inconvenience faced due to the distance between the office of UCM and the Construction Committee, the UCM shifted to the office of the Construction Committee for two months.

As per a decision taken by the UCM, the office of the UCM was shifted from Kekrupat to the Freedom to Freedom building at Yaiskul in September 2003.However since the photos of the 18 martyrs are at Kekrupat and since the office of the Construction Committee is located there, most of the meetings held in connection with the conceptual plan of Kekrupat and in connection with the territory of Manipur were held at the office of the Construction Committee.

The aspirations of the UCM is to hand over the Kekrupat Memorial Complex to a trust once the construction of the conceptual plan is completed, said UCM.

The Kangla Fort Board has also handed over the responsibility of developing Kekrupat to the Government.

However the tragedy is for the last one year no work could be taken up to complete the Common Monument, rued UCM.

As the Kangla Fort Board had served a notice to the Construction Committee and the UCM to move out from Kekrupat, UCM representatives met the Chairman of the Board, Chief Minister O Ibobi on November 13 and urged him to first complete the Common Monument and make Kekrupat into a living memorial complex.

Till date the Kangla Fort Board and the authority concerned have not shown any firm commitment to honour the petition of UCM, it said and questioned the motive behind the deafening silence.

Comment