Militancy ended with people’s help: Manipur CM
IMPHAL: The BJP led alliance government under N Biren Singh
recently completed four years in a “peaceful” Manipur, the state once
known for all wrong reasons like militancy and social unrest pushing
governments on the tenterhooks handling the law and order, which
subsequently used to take a toll on development and welfare of the
people.
Celebrating four years of “citizen centric governance”, the
state recently organised various events for month long, culminating into
a grand ceremony “Emerging Manipur” at City Convention Centre here,
where chief minister N Biren Singh and his ministerial colleagues inaugurated and unveiled multiple projects worth hundreds of crores.
Vying
for another stint as state will have polls next year, the chief
minister said that restoring peace was the biggest challenge, which has
been accomplished with support of the people and centre playing a
pivotal role in mitigating the influence of the ultra outfits, who were
operating from Manipur as well as bordering areas of Myanmar.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and other senior leaders of the BJP have been highly generous towards
development of the north east. The development witnessed in the past
four years had never happened in the history of the state,” the chief
minister told TOI on the sidelines of the celebrations in the state
capital.
“Winning confidence of the people played a significant role in defeating the violent groups. Once people understood that the government was committed towards their welfare, they rejected the agenda pushed by the ultra outfits,” Singh said.
Since Indian military’s successful cross-border operation into Myanmar in which 15-20 separatists belonging to NSCN-K were believed to be killed, Manipur has not witnessed any major militant activity.
The Manipur chief minister said that Centre’s revised scheme for Surrender-Cum Rehabilitation of Militants in the North East States, 2018 motivated several ultras, who laid the arms and returned to the mainstream. Rehabilitation benefits given to the surrendered cadres under the MHA scheme include a one-time financial grant of Rs 4 lakh to each surrendered rebel, which is to be kept in a bank in their names as a fixed deposit for a period of three years. Militants stay in a rehabilitation camp for three years, during which they are paid a monthly stipend of Rs 6,000 each. Recently as many as 20 rebels from different militant outfits in Manipur laid down arms before Biren Singh in an event called “Homecoming Ceremony”.
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