Guite Road handing over to BRO still uncertain

IMPHAL, Feb 4: Uncertainty still hangs on the issue of handing over of construction works of the Guite road in Churachandpur district to the BRO as a meeting held today between the government and representative of pressure groups of the district brought no positive result.
According to an official source, a meeting was convened this morning from 10.30 am till 11.30 am chaired by the chief minister O Ibobi Singh at his official bungalow. 
Today's meeting was convened following an invitation by the government to pressure groups of Churachandpur district.

Apart from the chief minister, today's meeting was attended by the state works minister K Ranjit Singh, two cabinet ministers from Churachandpur district T Phungzathang and TN Haokip and chief engineer of PWD from the state government side and the officials of BRO while representative of ZSF, CDSU and KSO Churachandpur district led by the president ZSFKapkhanmuan represented the pressure groups.

The source further said today's meeting was a follow up action to the commitment given by state government during a call attention motion raised by local MLAs during the recent sitting of the Manipur Legislative Assembly.

The recent sitting of the state assembly has agreed to form a house committe headed by state works minister to look into the possibility of handing over construction works of Guite road to the BRO as demanded by local public and pressure groups of Churachandpur district. 
In the meantime, considering the genuity of the demands of the pressure groups and student bodies of the Churachandpur district, a joint meeting was convened in presence of BRO official for handing over the construction works of Guite road to the BRO. During the meeting, the BRO officials spell out technical difficulties of taking over the constructionworks as the state PWD had already undertaken development work under the funds from the NEC.

Representatives of the pressure groups of Churachandpur and state government while realising the technical difficulties on immediate handing over of the works to the BRO, the meeting ended without any positive development. 
It may be mentioned the pressure groups spearheaded by the Zoumi Students' Federation have started agitation following the failure of the state government to hand over the construction works of Guite road to the BRO. The local populace and students bodies have boycotted officials and staffs of the state PWD to enter to the areas for further initiation of the constructions work since October last year. 
Mass social work has also been initiated along the road by the villagers under the supervisions of various students bodies. The boycott of PWD officials had been suspended recently with an assurance given by the government through local MLAs to fulfill their demands. (IFP)