The Manipur Naga Youth Organisation (MNYO) has raised serious allegations of fund diversion and systemic financial mismanagement within Manipur’s hill districts, demanding immediate transparency, institutional overhaul, and political accountability. In an official statement, the youth body claimed that capital investment allocations under the “Pride of The Hills” component of the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) scheme had been systematically misappropriated in direct violation of established governmental guidelines. Furthermore, the organisation alleged that state development funds were being disproportionately funneled into Kuki-dominated areas, resulting in the unfair marginalization of other tribal and non-Kuki communities across the region. Alongside capital expenditure irregularities, the MNYO highlighted widespread operational failures within the VB-GRAM G scheme, where registered job card holders routinely suffer wage payment delays ranging from 40 to 50 days. The organisation attributed these chronic delays to frequent application upgrades and strongly criticized an arbitrary disbursement system that routinely results in workers receiving unequal pay for executing the exact same number of workdays. Compounding these administrative bottlenecks, funding for the material component of the rural development scheme has reportedly remained pending since 2023, creating severe financial strain for local implementing agencies and vendors who support local infrastructure work. In response to these perceived systemic abuses, the youth organisation called for the immediate removal of Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen from her role managing the Tribal Affairs and Hills portfolio. To restore institutional integrity and restore public confidence, the MNYO also demanded that the incumbent Director and Joint Director be replaced with politically neutral officers capable of managing state resources objectively. The youth body concluded its declaration by insisting on the full disclosure of all project allocations and actual expenditures, the immediate clearance of all outstanding financial liabilities, the prompt release of overdue worker wages, and the establishment of a uniform, transparent payment system applicable across both rural and urban areas of the state.
MNYO Demands Public Audit and Official Resignations Over Tribal Development Fund Irregularities
