Manipur cabinet announces flood relief; ADC, Panchayats, Municipalities elections in September

IMPHAL — Manipur cabinet has resolved to provide INR 10,000 each to families affected by the recent flood as immediate relief, apart from instructing the deputy commissioners to complete damage assessment within one week, official sources said on Friday.

More than 1.26 lakh people and 16,364 houses across 255 villages/localities in the state were affected by flood following heavy rainfall in the aftermath of cyclone Remal. Apart from that, 522 hectares of crop areas were affected. Five persons including two women were killed.

Chaired by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the cabinet meeting was held on Thursday evening.

The house approved to conduct local elections to Autonomous District Council, Panchayats and Municipalities around September, 2024. However, with regard to the Autonomous District Council election, the opinion of the Hill Areas Committee will be taken into account, it said.

The house also constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee in connection with rehabilitation and resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the State resulting from the ongoing crisis, it said.

The panel will be headed by the Minister of Works and Youth Affairs and Sports K Govindas Singh as the Chairperson with Ministers Awangbow Newmai (Water Resources and Relief & Disaster Management), Dr Sapam Ranjan Singh (Medical Health & Family Welfare and Information & Public Relations) and Khashim Vashum (Animal Husbandry & Veterinary and Transport) as members.

Commissioner (Home) Gyanprakash Huirem will be the Member Secretary of the committee, which will report to the chief minister, sources said.

The task of Cabinet Sub-Committee includes identifying the grievances of IDPs staying in relief camps, assessing the needs and requirements of such persons, supervising measures for resettlement and rehabilitation of IDPs, and supervising identification of land for temporary relocation of IDPs, said a press release.

More than 50,000 IDPs are taking shelter in various relief camps and other areas following the violence that engulfed the state on May 3 last year. More than 200 people were killed in the violence. A fresh violence at Jiribam also left more than 900 people, including 200 children, homeless.

It may be mentioned that the government had also directed the IDPs to submit their land records and properties to their respective district administrations.