Sadar Hills panel to intensify stir if dist status not given

Imphal, July 19 (PTI) The Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) today threatened to launch a series of agitation if the present autonomous district council in Manipur's Senapati district was not converted into a full-fledged revenue district.If the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) could be formed in Darjeeling Hills in West Bengal, why cannot the Sadar Hills be converted into a full-fledged revenue district, a SHDDC spokesperson said today.

He informed this issue came up at a committee meeting at the district council hall at Kangpokpi town in Sadar Hills yesterday.

The meeting, which discussed the present status of the area, was attended by leaders of different parties among others and discussed the prevailing "socio-political and economic backwardness of the area."

Official sources said that successive previous governments had decided to convert Sadar Hills into a full-fledged revenue district in the past but it got postponed indefinitely at the last minute.

The Sadar Hills, having a majority of Kuki population, is also inhabited by different other ethnic communities including Nagas and Nepalis.

The state government had developed all infrastructure and other facilities in the area, equivalent to a full-fledged revenue district.