The first tribal freedom fightersโ€™ museum is all set to come up at Makhel village in Manipurโ€™s Senapati district bordering Nagaland.

The museum will be developed by Manipurโ€™s tribal affairs and hills department.

The foundation stone of the proposed museum was laid down on Thursday by Manipur minister of tribal affairs and hills N Kayisii.

He was accompanied by state public health engineering minister and local MLA L Dikho, senior officials of the department and district officials.

Makhel is located about 105 km north of Imphal and is primarily inhabited by the Mao community.

โ€œThe upcoming museum is the first of its kind in the Northeast,โ€ said minister Kayisii while addressing a gathering after the foundation laying ceremony.

He sought peopleโ€™s cooperation in developing the museum and thanked the villagers for donating 23.6 acres of land for the museum.

โ€œThe museum would help in creating a platform for different communities of the state to have frequent interactions and bring better understanding among them,โ€™ said MLA Dikho.

โ€œThe project, which is estimated to cost around Rs 15 crore, will start once the museum narrative is approved of by a competent authority,โ€ said director of Tribal Affairs and Hills Department C Arthur Worchuiyo.

Worchuiyo further informed that there is a national-level tribal freedom fightersโ€™ museum in Gujarat and seven other tribal freedom fightersโ€™ museums in other parts of the country.

Sobhapati Samom is Northeast Now Correspondent in Imphal. He can be reached at: [email protected]