Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 19:
�Tousem is a part of Manipur and we would never like to see Manipur to disintegrate.
But the gross negligence of the State administration for the last 30 years is intolerable��.
This was stated by the secretary of Tousem Village Authority Rangneikam, who took the opportunity of conveying the grievances of the people living in the remote area, to mediapersons who had gone there to cover a medical camp.
Rangneikam lamented that people living in and around Tousem sub-divisional headquarters have been facing lot of difficulties with regard to health, education, communication and transports, etc for the last many years.
But the State administration has done nothing to mitigate these problems despite numerous representations and memoranda served in the past.
Over 20 SDOs have been posted in the sub-division since 1979.But instead of sitting at the Tousem office, the officers remain at Tamenglong and drew his salary, the secretary informed.
There are also only three constables in the police station of the area to aid the civil administration.
The office building of the police station, the construction work of which was started while a present MLA was the contractor is yet to be completed till today, he rued.
The condition of the 56 km long road stretch from New Keiphundai to Tousem was inaugurated in 1979 by Yangmasho Shaiza while he was the Chief Minister.
But now the condition of the road is so deplorable that it is even difficult for the four-wheeler vehicles to pass the route.
There are two PHCs in the sub-division but the one constructed by District Council in 2003 at Tousem Khullen has been is being converted as a pig sty while other at Tousem Khunou has been without any doctor or staff for the last four years.
In case of emergency, the people of the area have to take the patients till Tamenglong which takes one day to reach.
Unable to procure just one medicine has led to the death of many people in the area, he rued.
There has also been no sign of any progress the construction work on the 33 KV power sub-station at Tousem which was earlier scheduled to be inaugurated by Chief Minister in May, 2005, he said.
The area subdivision has been remaining in perpetual darkness for the last many years.
But the electricity has been supplied just to show off, on hearing about the arrival of a media team, the village secretary pointed out.
Although there is one FCS godown in the area, the people have not received any rice, sugar and other provisions under PDS system.
The people of the area have to depend on Ham and sweet potatoes during the recent rodent menace which had caused mass destruction to the food grain.
At present also, the people have to go till Assam on foot to buy rice and other essential commodities for their survival, the village secretary lamented.
In the domain of education, there has also been better hope for the village.
The Tousem Govt High School was set in 1974 and was upgraded to in 2002.However, the construction of the school building at an estimated cost of Rs 5 lakhs under NLCPR has been done properly.
Instead of pucca wall, the contractor has used corrugated tins.
On lack of communication facilities, the village secretary informed that there is no telephone facility for the 2000 villagers living in the area.
The representatives of the Old Mandeu Village Authority have also more or less the same complaint.
The village which is known for its orange production has to dispose off around 36 tonne of produce this year to Assam at the rate of 100 oranges for Rs 80 due to lack of transport facilities.




