Economy / Manipur

NEW DELHI, March 6: The Manipur Chief Minister, Radhabinod Koijam, today had to leave Delhi empty-handed. He announced yesterday that the finance minister had agreed to clear Rs 100 crore out of the Rs 200-crore special aid to the state and hence state government employees would receive their salary, pending for three months. The finance ministry held back the money at the eleventh hour, following the home ministry's intervention, sources said. The latter insisted that the money should be cleared only after the state honoured the MoU with it on retrenching around 2000 employees for their...

IMPHAL, March 5 (PTI): The Centre today sanctioned a grant of Rs 100 crore to bail out Manipur from its financial crisis, Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam said today. "The Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha informed me today that a sum of Rs 100 crore has been sanctioned to the State which did not have money even to pay salaries and pensions", Koijam told reporters in Delhi. The amount sanctioned would be sufficient for the time being to pay pending salaries and pensions, he said. The Minister of State for Finance S Loken assured that with this amount the Government will be able to pay...

IMPHAL, February 16: The newly, sworn-in Chief Minister, Radhabinod Koijam, in his first message to the people of Manipur, has declared that his government's first priorities would be to tackle the deteriorating law and order situation and the ongoing financial crisis, and to wipe out corruption. The new Chief Minister, in the first place, reiterated his government's commitment to bringing back peace in the state, acknowledging that the decades long problem of insurgency that the state had faced had retarded development, and frequent acts of violence had seriously disturbed public life. In...

YANGON, February 15: In keeping with the changing perception in their relationship, India and Myanmar have identified at least five points in the Northeastern states of Mizoram and Nagaland for opening of border trade with the neigh-bouring country. The issue of opening of more border trading points in the economically backward NE states and North Western Myanmar received the green signal at a meeting between visiting External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Senior General Than Shwe here this morning. Indian officials revealed that...

IMPHAL, February 15: The new Chief Minister of Manipur, Radhabinod Koijam, today said his top priority would be to usher in peace to the state and enforce financial discipline in the government. Talking to newsmen at the Raj Bhawan after he was sworn in as Chief Minister, Koijam said he did not believe in using force to solve the problem of militancy. After capturing the Chief Ministership by staging a major political coup, Koijam's biggest task is to improve the law and order situation and the state's economy. The Chief Minister said use of force can never end insurgency and added "only a...

KALEWA (Myanmar), February 13 (PTI): Giving a new impetus to Indo-Myanmar relations, external affairs minister Jaswant Singh today opened a 165-km road built with Indian assistance linking the two countries to pave the way for enhanced tourism, trade and economic ties. Using a special computer-aided design, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed the Tamu-Kalamyn-Kalewa road, costing Rs 100 crore, in a record time of three months. Singh, who is on a three-day official visit, the first high-level from India to Myanmar since the trip by Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister in 1987, arrived...

KALEMEYO (Myanmar), February 13: The border trade between the Northeastern States and the neighbouring Myanmar is likely to see a fresh revival with the formal inauguration of the 160 km Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemeyo Road jointly by the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh and the Minister for Construction, Maj Gen Saw Tun here this afternoon. Red carpets were rolled out for the high-level Indian delegation led by the External Affairs Minister that also included ministers of four Northeastern States, including Assam, besides top officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Surface Transport and...

IMPHAL, February 10: Jaswant Singh will inaugurate the Tamu-Kalimyo road, a venture undertaken by the Indian Government with an understanding with the military junta of Myanmar, on February 13 at the Bridge Gate on the Indo-Myanmar border. The construction task of the 108 km-long road was undertaken by the Border Road Task Force (BRTF) since 1997 and is in its final stage. Tight security arrangement has been made in the border town in view of the inauguration function, which will be participated by high-ranking officials of both the countries. There is also an understanding between the...

IMPHAL, February 3: An outstanding HUDCO loan of Rs. 30 crore, granted to the Planning and Development Authority (PDA) for smooth conduct of the V National Games, is now untraceable, highly placed sources said today. According to the source, the outstanding amount is neither in the account of the PDA nor in any other department in the state, leading to speculations that the amount has been misappropriated. The Rs. 30 crore HUDCO loan was sanctioned during the 1998-1999 to the PDA for smooth conduct of the V National Games, the source said. The state government is now shouldering an extra...

IMPHAL, January 24: The people of the state may no longer have to face the problem of shortage of coins and currency notes of small denominations, if a directive issued today by the Guwahati High Court, Imphal bench has any effect. A division bench comprising justices BB Deb, and AH Saikia, passing the final judgment on a public interest litigation filed in connection with the Reserve Bank of India, RBI to immediately remit coins and currency notes whenever requisitioned by the United Bank of India, UBI and State Bank of India, SBI for the state. The division bench further directed the UBI and...