IMPHAL, December 21: The Manipur Legislative Assembly today unanimously passed three bills on the last day of the 12th session of the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly.
The bills are The Manipur Municipalities (Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2015 (Bill No 19 of 2015); the Manipur Medicare Service Personnel and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2015; and the Manipur Motor Vehicle Taxation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015 (Bill No 21 of 2015).
Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh tabled the Manipur Municipalities (Ninth Amendment) Bill 2015 (Bill No 19 of 2015) for consideration.
MLA Ibomcha participated in the discussion of the bill. Later the House unanimously passed the Bill.
Health minister Phungzathang Tonsing tabled the Manipur Medicare Service Personnel and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2015 which was also passed by the House unanimously.
Transport minister Kh Ratankumar tabled the Manipur Motor Vehicle Taxation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015 (Bill No 21 of 2015).
During the discussion on the Bill, MLA I Ibohalbi said that there are still many points which the bill has failed to address.
He said more than 20 years old vehicles which produces a lot of smoke still out, roads at Singjamei have been widened, however people are using the roadsides to park vehicles disturbing the traffic flow.
He also pointed out that as the law and order problem has been improved the collection of toll-taxes from Imphal-Ccpur Road, Imphal-Ukhrul Road, etc work can be awarded to private companies, and the concern private company could also do the work of maintaining the roads while the State government can collect the tax from the company.
The bill also does not mention clearly where the parking fees collected from the bazaar areas are deposited, he said.
Imphal-CCpur Road is categorized as A-Class while Imphal-Thoubal-Kakching Road is categorized as B-Class. How is this categorization being done, he asked.
In reply, the concerned minister Ratankumar said steps have been taken on all the issues mentioned following a directive from the Transport Development Council meeting held in Delhi.
Since 2011 no amendment has taken place in the said Bill. We can further amend the bill if the need arises, he said.
Later the House unanimously passed the Bill.
However the Manipur Participatory Irrigation Water Users’ Bill 2015 (Bill No 20 of 2015) was withdrawn by Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh stating that bill still has some loopholes.