Some tribal organisations, tribal leaders and MLAs have been accusing the state government of imbalanced allocation of funding of the Central Road Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Ningombam Subhash, the Chief Engineer of Manipur’s Public Works Department, said that between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Rs 2,395.51 crore was sanctioned for different road and bridge projects in the hill areas of the state while Rs 1,300.21 crore was sanctioned for the valley areas.
He added that Rs 1,374.81 crore and Rs 1,125.97 crore were sanctioned during the 2024-25 fiscal for the hilly and valley areas respectively, for various projects under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and North Eastern Council.
He said Rs 8,541.97 crore and Rs 351.8 crore were sanctioned for the hilly and valley areas respectively, for various projects under National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. between the 2020-21 and 2023-2024 financial years.
Tribal leader and BJP MLA Paolienlal Haokip last week claimed that 57 road projects worth around Rs 399.36 crore were recently sanctioned for the valley areas by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.Terming the allocation of funds as “neglect of hill areas of the state,” he said on X: “All 57 road building projects only for valley Manipur districts. This is why Union Territory with a Legislature for the hills is a necessity.”The non-tribal Meiteis account for around 53 per cent of Manipur’s 3.2 million population and live mostly in the valley regions while the tribal Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 percent of the population and reside in the hill districts, which cover around 90 per cent of the geographical areas of Manipur.
The Manipur Chief Minister last week while addressing an official function said that the state government never worked against any indigenous community in the state.
“We are committed to protecting the current as well as future generations from illegal immigration (from Myanmar) and drug menaces,” CM Biren Singh said, adding that none of the 34 communities that exist in Manipur, are enemies against each other.
The Chief Minister said that no one wants conflicts in Manipur while both hills and valleys are one and part of the state.
The Kuki-Zo tribal community in Manipur remained firm for a separate administration like the Union Territory with a Legislative Assembly exclusively for the tribals similar to that in Puducherry.
All 10 tribal MLAs, including seven BJP legislators, and several Kuki-Zo organisations, including the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum and Kuki Inpi Manipur, since the ethnic violence started in Manipur in May last year, have been demanding separate administration or a Union Territory for the Kuki-Zo tribals in the state.
The ethnic violence between the non-tribals Meiteis and tribal Kuki-Zo broke out in the northeastern state on May 3 last year after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
So far, over 230 people have been killed in the strife. As many as 11,133 houses have been set on fire, out of which 4,569 homes have been completely destroyed. A total of 11,892 cases have been registered in different police stations in connection with the ethnic violence. The state government has established 302 relief camps to provide shelter to 59,414 internally displaced persons.
