In view of the poor conditions of ponies in Manipur, Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Friday urged pony owners to hand them over to the government owned pony farms if they are unable to look after the ponies and letting them wander in the streets.
Biren made the statement during the monsoon session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly in response to a calling attention motion moved by MLA Surjakumar Okram. He pointed out that the present scenario of ponies is pitiful and their numbers are decreasing drastically.
According to a 2016 survey, its population was 2,337 and was reduced to 1,089 in 2019. Of the total, 971 are indigenous ponies, he said.
Taking serious note of the dwindling number of ponies in the state, the state government has introduced initiatives for conservation of ponies. He said that around 30 acres of land in Lamphelpat was given to Manipur Horse Riding and one acre of land near Ibudhou Marjing area was also earmarked for pony conservation.
Besides, grazing ground for ponies will be set up in every district and polo tournaments are going to be organised in the state, he said, adding that the government is taking all possible efforts to conserve ponies.
The state is constructing a statue of a pony at Ibudhou Marjing because the game of polo was gifted to the world by Manipur. People should also extend their responsibility in the conservation of the pony, he said.
Responding the cut attention motion moved by MLA K Meghachandra on Tribal Affairs and Hills Area Development (TA and HD), Biren further assured to launch an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of money to the tune of around Rs 18.5 crore which were meant to be used in developmental works at Tamenglong, Senapati and Ukhrul district.
Meghachandra said that many developmental works funded under 3rd, 13th, 14th and 15th Finance Commission were not taken up properly by officials of ADCs of Tamenglong, Senapati and Ukhrul.
He further alleged that an amount of Rs 18.5 crore was misused by some officials, and urged the minister concerned and chief minister to hand over the case to the CBI.
Biren said that the present government is committed to making Manipur become a corruption free state. As a result, the functioning of Lokayukta was resumed after so many ages and the state government will not tolerate any form of corruption, he said.
The government will take initiative to investigate the alleged misappropriation of sanctioned money for Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong, he maintained.
Minister, TA and HD, Letpao Haokip also informed that the government does not have any intention to delay the ADC election. The state cabinet had already decided to conduct the election; however, the Hill Areas Committee had recommended postponing the election for six months.
It was again resolved to hold on March 3, 2021 but due to COVID-19 it got postponed for some time again, he said. However, the cabinet had recently resolved to conduct the election by October of this year, he informed.
A calling attention motion on inability to hold ADC election was also moved by Meghachandra.
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