The case of the planned Manipur Bhavan at Silchar has now graduated from being a forgotten promise of the government. The documents and records found by Imphal Times suggest that what we have here is an issue of public accountability, where a plan that has been claimed to benefit Manipuri travelers at Silchar was allocated funds by the government, but there is no Bhavan and the 24 bighas of land supposedly meant for the plan is now registered in the name of a sitting Congress MLA.
This cannot be allowed to remain buried in the files of one government after another.
As per the first investigation conducted by Imphal Times, the plan of building a Manipur Bhavan at Silchar, which had been promised publicly during the Okram Ibobi Singh government, has not been officially approved by Cabinet, administration or any official government decision. The former Chief Minister Ibobi had reportedly admitted this fact himself.
However, the second investigation has found out an important document, i.e., Budget Estimates of Manipur Government for 2022-23, which allocates Rs.1 crore to Major Head 4216 for the “Construction of Manipur Bhawan at Silchar.” This changes the character of the issue.
If there was no formally approved project in the earlier period, how did the project subsequently enter the State Budget? Who proposed the budget head? Which department prepared the proposal? Was administrative sanction subsequently granted? Was the Rs.1 crore actually released? If released, to whom? Was a work order issued? Was any land identified? Was the money spent, surrendered, reappropriated or allowed to lapse?
These are not academic questions. They concern public money.
Fundamentally speaking, there is also the issue of land.
As mentioned in the previous report, the 24 bighas of land on which the proposed Bhavan project would be constructed is owned by Congress MLA K. Meghachandra Singh at present. As per the declaration made in his election affidavit, he had purchased the land for Rs.9 lakh in the year 2011. At the same time, as per the previous report, the land had been supposedly negotiated for Rs.1.2 crore for the proposed Manipur Bhavan.
While the two may actually have different explanations, but since there is a discrepancy here, an official clarification is warranted. The fundamental question is simple: How could land reportedly identified or negotiated for a public project subsequently become privately owned, particularly by a sitting legislator?
No allegation of illegality should be made without evidence. But neither should legitimate questions of public interest be dismissed merely because they are politically inconvenient.
There is another troubling inconsistency. A 2014 memorandum by the All Assam Manipuri Students’ Union reportedly stated that land had already been allotted for the proposed Bhavan. However, a former AAMSU president subsequently told Imphal Times that, to his knowledge, no land had ever been officially allotted by the Manipur Government. Such a contradiction requires clarification from the organisation and the individuals involved.
And this is where the silence of Manipuri civil society organisations in Silchar becomes difficult to understand.
If organisations such as AAMSU or other Manipuri bodies in Silchar once considered the Manipur Bhavan important enough to petition the government, why is there no visible demand today for the release of the project’s records? Why has there been no sustained public campaign asking what happened to the proposed land and the budget allocation?
Silence does not resolve the issue. It only leaves room for suspicion.
The same applies to successive governments. The present government cannot simply point to an old proposal and walk away. The previous government cannot say that the project was only an intention. The existence of a Rs.1 crore budget provision in 2022-23 requires the government to explain what happened thereafter.
The Government of Manipur should therefore place the entire documentary trail in the public domain: the original proposal, Cabinet or departmental decisions, administrative sanction, land records, correspondence concerning the Silchar site, budget release orders, expenditure statements, reappropriation or surrender records, utilisation certificates and any subsequent decision to abandon or relocate the project.
The issue is not about constructing another government building merely for prestige. A Manipur Bhavan in Silchar could serve thousands of Manipuris seeking medical care, education, employment and official services in Assam.
What began as a promise nearly two decades ago appears to have travelled through political announcements and, eventually, a government budget allocation—yet produced no building.
The people of Manipur deserve to know where the project stopped, what happened to the land and what happened to the money.
Silence will not make the people’s demand disappear. It will only make the unanswered questions louder.