IT News
Imphal, April 10: Manipur Panthoibi Emporium at New Delhi-the capital city of the country, which was set up with great enthusiasm to showcase the rich traditional heritage of the state is now ruining the pride of the state with no proper competent authority to run it.
Couple of years back Imphal Times had reported that a government officers had misappropriated a sum of Rs. 25 lakhs sanctioned for repairing of the emporium, and following that the government Manipur has ordered concern government authority to recover the amount misappropriated by him. However, till now there are no official announcement made whether the said amount has been recovered from him or not.
On April 19, 2013, Imphal Times reported that the state government issued notification for recovery of rupees 25 lakhs from the deputy director (Food Processing Industries) S. Joykumar, withdrawn by him for renovation of Panthoibi Emporium New Delhi within April 23 of the same year. Again, on April 24 Imphal Times carried a follow up story about the clarification made by the deputy director where he said that the amount for renovation of the Panthoibi Emporium was withdrawn by two persons identified as Th. Iton and E. Gopendro Singh using three different cheques from Panjab National Bank Irilbung Branch. The Imphal Times had also reported that a sum of rupees 5,00,000 was withdrawn from the bank on November 19, 2011 with cheque number 770402. It was signed by one Th. Iton Singh. The second cheque number 770408 encased an amount of rupees 10,000,00/- on December 1, 2011. The 3rd cheque bearing number 770409 withdrew an amount of rupees 10,000,00/- on the same day. Both the cheques were signed by one E.Gopendro Singh.
However, new government has come up and there are no report of any penalty to any of th involved persons which ruined the Manipur’s heritage.
Recent visit at the Panthoibi Emporium by Imphal Times news reporters found much of the building space rented to non-Manipuri businessmen who deal with other product but not local indigenous products. At present too no authority have kept interest in the promotion of traditional handloom and handicraft material and 4 rooms which were allotted for promotion of Manipuri product remain unused. Report said 80% of the Panthoibi Emporium complex has been occupied by non-Manipuri for business transaction in the name of some Manipuri who had been allotted stalls at the complex.
Report said that the Emporium has been handed over to Manipur Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation (MHHDC) however the post of Managing Director, Superintendent, and General Manager are still lying vacant. With no competent authority, lower staffs are running the Emporium violating the government norms.
And surprisingly , no staffs are seen encouraging our traditional cloths inside the Emporium.
