The Government of Manipur is all set to acquire 3000 acres of land at Haollenphai village near the border township of Moreh. The Government is targeting the particular area with a vision to set up a modern town with all the modern facilities and amenities.
This is understandable in view of the Government of India’s Look East Policy and the State Government’s pet project of developing Moreh as the gateway to South and South East Asia.
However, so far the State Government has not spelled out whether it plans to expand Moreh town or develop an altogether, separate town.
Haollenphai is one among the 100 lucky places selected from across India for setting up ‘Smart’ cities. This is another testimony of the geo-strategic importance of the location of Manipur in terms of international trade and defence from the perspective of New Delhi mandarins.
In fact, it is none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is pushing hard for Smart cities. Even in his election speeches he had hinted at how this project has occupied his mind.
With Singapore offering to build smart cities in India, Narendra Modi Government has expressed its keenness and it has already selected 100 places for development of Smart cities across the country including Haollenphai.
According to IBM, which is working on 2,500 smart city projects globally, a smart city uses technology to transform its core systems.
A smart city’s core infrastructure is information technology, where a network of sensors, cameras, wireless devices, data centres form the key infrastructure providing essential services.
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Development of a Smart city in the vicinity of Moreh would be a big boost to the cross-border trade and it would for sure benefit the people of Moreh and surrounding areas.
With a proper maintenance policy, Haollenphai may one day become one of the prized assets of the State of Manipur.
Modernization often entails destruction and Haollenphai would be no exception. Land acquisition, in one sense, is destruction. People would be evicted, trees and plants would be uprooted and existing structures would be dismantled to make space for new structures and facilities.