Artists perform during the Mera Houchongba celebration at Kangla Uttra, Imphal on October 5. (NNN Photo)
Newmai News Network
Imphal | October 5
Manipur Chief Minister, N Biren Singh said today that “we need to forgive and forget the past mistakes sincerely” in order to retain the strong fraternal bond between hill and valley people.
Biren was speaking on the occasion of Mera Houchongba celebration at Kangla Uttra in the heart of Imphal today. Mera Houchongba is a festival celebrated as a “mark of remembrance of the solidarity” among the different communities in Manipur.
And it was for the first time in the festival’s long held history that it was being celebrated at a State level with a joint committee known as the State Level Mera Houchongba Committee formed under the supervision of the Chief Minister.
Performing age-old rituals, exchange of gifts and presentation of colourful cultural items of different communities were the main highlights of the celebration.
Chief Minister Biren Singh, Art and Culture Minister L Jayantakumar Singh and titular king of Manipur Meidingu Leishemba Sanajaoba graced the occasion as chief guest, president and guest of honour respectively.
Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, MLAs, top civil and police officers, village chiefs and large number of people from both hills and valley were also present at the occasion.
The Chief Minister in his address acknowledged that there had been misunderstandings in the past and urged the people to sideline differences and march forward to achieve progress.
Mentioning the importance of Mera Houchongba festival towards strengthening hill-valley unity, the Chief Minister hailed titular king Meidingu Leishemba Sanajaoba for his efforts of keeping up the tradition of celebrating the festival every year.
Acknowledging the significance of Mera Houchongba, the new Government had decided to celebrate the festival in a grand way under its aegis from this year, he added.
Stating that there has been considerable improvement in hill-valley ties ever since the new Government was formed in the State, the Chief Minister said that he was moved by the kind gesture and fine hospitality shown to him and his Minister during reception ceremonies held at Ukhrul, Kangpokpi, Senapati and Churachandpur.
He maintained that development would be meaningful if the needy people of the hilly and interior areas are uplifted and empowered. He also informed of plans to visit Tamenglong district by road soon to look into the inadequacies of the district and reviewing various development works.
Biren informed that his Government had decided to revamp all the major roads across the State on mission mode soon after rainy season and assured that people would witness considerable developmental changes both in hill and valley districts within 2 or 3 years.
The Chief Minister further said that a WhatsApp Group comprising PWD engineers, SOs, contractors and himself as its members had been formed to expedite developmental works.
In order to complete the projects within stipulated time, he had even instructed the Works Minister to increase the working hour of officials from 8 hours to 14 hours with overtime allowance if necessary, the Chief Minister informed.
Regarding "Imphal Evenings", the Chief Minister clarified that the Government is simply trying to provide recreational space to the public as the people of other States think that there is no life in Manipur after nightfall.
Admitting that there were some traffic congestion problems on the first day, the Chief Minister assured that proper planning has been made to avoid such inconvenience in future.
Earlier in the morning, a large number of people from different hill and valley districts gathered at the Royal Palace and took out a colourful procession up to Kangla as part of the celebration.
Later, the age old rituals like Mera Men Tongba and Yenkhong Tamba were performed there to strengthen the fraternal bond among people of different ethnic communities.
