IMPHAL: Chief minister N. Biren Singh has claimed that the state has achieved remarkable progress and development in the past four and a half years.
Biren Singh said this while speaking at the 75th Independence Day celebrations at the parade ground of the 1st BN Manipur Rifles here on Sunday. The chief minister, who hoisted the Tricolour, also took the guard of honour and salute from 12 march-past contingents on the occasion.
“The government’s pro-active efforts to make Manipur a blockade and bandh-free state to ensure its all-round development had resulted in drastic drop in such agitations in the past few years,” he said.
The improvement in law and order has allowed the state to reap the benefits of peace and Manipur continues to excel in several areas, he said.
In the second edition of Indian Innovation Index, 2020, prepared by Niti Aayog, Manipur was ranked third under northeastern and hill states category and first in the NE states category.
The Manipur State Power Distribution Company Limited (MSPDCL) had been awarded the Best Performance Improvement Award and Overall Winner, he said.
It also received Overall Innovation with Impact Award (Northeastern States) in 14th India Energy Summit 2021, the CM added.
Stating that Manipur has seen significant improvement in law and order, he said altogether 1,039 rebels have laid down arms till date. Among them, 20 cadres of Thadou Peoples’ Liberation Army and valley-based groups surrendered in March this year, Biren Singh said.
On the “War on Drugs campaign”, he said that the narcotics cells of the police department have been established in all the districts. Maintaining that one should never politicise the issues related to the drug menace, the CM said in the past four years and a half, the state's law-enforcement agencies seized over 1,000kg of opium and derivatives, more than 100kg of heroin and many other contraband substances.
Informing that many clandestine brown sugar-processing laboratories have also been busted, Biren Singh said a fast-track court for trial of cases under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotopic Substanes (NDPS) Act was established in 2018.
The court had disposed of 314 cases with 51 convictions and the separate special NDPS court had also disposed of 962 cases with 87 convictions since January 1, 2017, he said, adding that Manipur police had also arrested Kyaw Kyaw Naing, a Myanmarese national and an international drug dealer. The government has also helped poor farmers, who were affected after their poppy crop was destroyed, take up farming of other economically viable horticultural crops on a sustainable basis, the chief minister said.
