‘Loktak must be saved from city effluent, funds for Flying Doctors in pipeline’
By A Staff Reporter
IMPHAL | Sept 20
The Manipur governor, Najma Heptulla, in an interaction with local media at the Raj Bhavan today said she is personally concerned but not directly responsible for invoking Schedule 10 of the Constitution to initiate up disqualification motions against seven Congress MLAs who have flocked to the folds of the ruling BJP.
She also implied that the disqualification procedure would have to be set into motion by the Congress party against its defector MLAs, only then an arbitration process on the matter can begin.
“In any case, this is not my responsibility” she said.
The governor was answering a query whether she as the Constitutional head of state, is not distressed by the manner in which the provision of the Constitution which defines the Anti-Defection Law was being rubbished and turned upside down in Manipur.
Asked whether allowing defecting MLAs to sit on the Treasury Benches in itself does not amount to giving a nod to defection on the part of the Assembly, she said it is essential for the Congress to first make a complaint, otherwise legislators crossing the well of the House will not be deemed as defection.
On being pressed whether she felt bad about the development, she said she has stopped feeling bad about the matter as there are too many more important things to worry about in the nation in recent times.
She also explained how she herself was a lawmaker when the Anti-Defection Bill was passed therefore is well aware of its intricacies.
Touching on another matter, the governor said her earlier plan of introducing a “Flying Doctors” project to ensure health facilities reach even the most remote corners of the state in time is ready to take off.
She said she has spoken to the Prime Minister as well as the DoNER minister on the matter and already Rs. 25 crore to get the project rolling is in the pipeline.
Heptulla also briefed the gathering of her plan to put into effect the cleanliness mission of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
“I was touched when the Prime Minister from the familiar grounds and spoke of the need for the return cleanliness in every walk of life in India in his first ever Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi three years ago,” she said.
“The Prime Minister’s idealism in this regard is also in keeping with the vision of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation,” she added.
She said she herself is also going to take up the initiative and launch a cleanliness drive in the Imphal area beginning from October 2, the birth anniversary of Gandhi.
“I will be inviting children to the Raj Bhavan on the day to launch the drive in a symbolic way,” Heptulla added.
“This is essential not only for the health of Imphal city but equally to save the magnificent Loktak Lake from further degeneration”, she further said.
“Loktak today is being choked by the filthy effluent of Imphal city washed down to the lake by rivers that flow through the city,” she said adding, “Venice could be our role model in management and nurturing of a healthy aqua culture.”
She said she once considered the idea of having plastic water bottles banned as they are a big contaminant of the Loktak environment but was advised by an expert working on plastic waste management that rather than ban, they can be recycled into plastic foams to make mattresses, pillows and cushions, adding she has asked for details on what would be needed for such a project.
In the meantime, she said she will ask the government to introduce more dustbins in the city. She will also put in her mite to ensure the state is able to acquire state-of-the-art machineries for waste management and disposal.
She however said all such projects can only succeed if the people too were made conscious of the need of the time and cooperated. “As for instance, they must deposit their bio-wastes and plastic-wastes at different bins so that either can be sent to their respective disposal or recycle plants,” she explained.
She said her other dream is to green Imphal and the rest of the state ever further. Towards this, she said Eucalyptus trees must be banned from the state, for these are non-indigenous and not suitable for the place.
She also said she is exploring ways create more jobs in the state by the use of its rich bio-resources without causing any damage to its natural environment. “The way to do this could be to set up manufacturing plants for ayurvedic medicines in collaboration with well-known companies dealing with such products. My mission will be to generate jobs as well as augment people’s income in an environmentally sustainable way,” she explained.
Asked whether she is working for the decommissioning of the Ithai Barrage to help revive the Loktak eco system, she said she has been in consultation with experts on how this can be feasible or desirable.
The governor said she is also pained whenever she sees people not respecting the national anthem. “When it is being sung, everybody must stand in attention till the song is through. This includes cameramen covering ceremonial functions of the state.”
