The Mayang Imphal Kendra Development Committee has strongly condemned the relocation of the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Imphal West, from its originally proposed site at Charoipung, Mayang Imphal, to Lamshang, alleging that the move amounts to denying the people of the area a long-promised public institution.
Addressing to media persons at Charoipung today, Committee president Yumnam Ranapratap alleged that the foundation stone laid for the DIET complex at Mayang Imphal on December 16, 2016, was quietly removed before the newly constructed DIET building was inaugurated at Lamshang by Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh and the MLA of Lamsang Assembly Constituency on July 24.
Ranapratap said the original foundation stone had been laid during the Congress government under then Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and Education Minister Dr. Khumujam Ratankumar in the presence of then Principal Secretary (Education) P. Viphei, IAS, and NCERT Director M. Meenakumari. He questioned how a project that had officially commenced at Mayang Imphal was eventually shifted to another location without any explanation to the public.
Expressing strong resentment over the development, he said successive governments may change with time, but such political transitions cannot justify the removal of a foundation stone laid by a previous government or the relocation of a sanctioned public institution without transparency. He described the act as an insult to the aspirations of the people of Mayang Imphal Kendra and said it had caused widespread disappointment and anguish among local residents.