No Sign of a Breakthrough, Manipur Starts Rationing Fuel, Airlifting Drugs

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Guwahati, May 14 : With the two highways linking it to the rest of the country still closed, Manipur is scrambling to stay on its feet. Rationing of fuel has started from yesterday while consignments of medicines were airlifted for hospitals on Thursday.

While the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has prevented Manipur-bound vehicles from taking NH-39 through Nagaland, multiple blockades on NH-53 have cut off the state’s alternative highway link to the outside world.

The All Manipur United Clubs Organisation (AMUCO) and some other groups have been enforcing a counter-blockade on roads connecting Imphal with the state’s hill districts.

Manipur has lost count of how many days the two highways have remained closed. “The state is being held hostage... While there is little chance of NH-39 reopening in the near future, NH-53 too is yet to be made functional.

We have started airlifting medicine for hospitals from today, while the stock of food grains is reducing at a fast pace,” Manipur Sports Minister N Biren, who is also official spokesperson of the Congress-led SPF government in the state, told The Indian Express over the telephone from Imphal.

Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Thursday convened a meeting of the Unified Command Structure and asked security forces, including the Army, to help reopen NH-53 so that food grains and other essential commodities could be transported via Shillong (Meghalaya) and Silchar (south Assam).

In Nagaland, the NSCN (IM) stood firm on its decision of Thuingaleng Muivah proceeding to Ukhrul in Manipur. “There is no question of going back to Hebron from here,” V S Atem, a senior NSCN (IM) functionary had said after Union Home Secretary G K Pillai held a 90-minute discussion with Muivah on Wednesday. Muivah is camping at Viswema, 10 km short of the border with Manipur, since May 5.

The Manipur government has resorted rationing of petrol and diesel, with 14 petrol pumps in five districts instructed to sell fuel in limited quantities. Prices of essential commodities have sky-rocketed, while hospitals and nursing homes are facing severe crisis due to the shortage of diesel. Most Imphal hospitals and nursing homes depend on diesel gen-sets to run OTs and emergency services.

Several civil society groups staged dharnas in Imphal to press the Manipur government not to permit Muivah to enter the state. In Ukhrul and other hill districts of the state on the other hand, groups belonging to Naga tribes staged demonstrations demanding permission for Muivah to visit his ancestral village.