Manipur: Sadar Hills Agitation Worsens

Sit-in over supply disruption

Students stage a sit-in at Keishamthong to protest against the indefinite blockade in Imphal on Friday.

Imphal, Aug 13 : The Sadar Hills district agitation may snowball into a major law and order problem for the Manipur government with people in both the hills and valley coming out strongly against the dislocation of supplies.

The blockade, imposed by the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee, entered its 12th day today, with prices skyrocketing and commodities becoming scarce.

Residents of Keishamthong Assembly constituency, a part of which falls in Imphal city, today staged sit-ins at two places to voice their “resentment”.

The sit-ins were sponsored by Keishamthong Humanitarian Development Committee, a new organisation formed by residents of the constituency after the blockade.

The sit-ins came a day after Ngamkhohao Haokip, president of the demand committee, announced that the agitation would not be lifted.

Prices of essential commodities rose by Rs 25 to Rs 30 per kg and there were reports that some commodities like potato and onion had become scarce. Medicine stocks were also running low.

About 250 loaded trucks bound for Imphal are stranded between Mao and Senapati districts since the blockade began. The Senapati District Women’s Association also demanded immediate suspension of the blockade, stating it created a “humanitarian crisis” in the state.

“This culture of imposing the blockade along the state’s supply lines by any organisation while making demands should should stop. We are holding the sit-in to support the demand for lifting the blockade,” R.K. Shivachandra Singh, chief patron of the humanitarian committee, said.

Saying the people of Keishamthong supported the district demand, Shivachandra said the demand committee should adopt other means instead of blocking supplies.

School students also took part in the sit-in. “I could not pay attention to my studies after seeing my poor parents suffer because of the price rise,” said Aribam Binit Sharma, a Class IX student of John English School.

Government spokesperson and irrigation and flood control minister N. Biren Singh said the government was planning to re-open the two supply lines of Imphal-Dimapur and Imphal-Jiribam highways after the Independence Day celebrations.

“The government has decided to deploy security personnel to re-open both the supply lines after the Independence Day celebrations,” Biren Singh said.

Loaded trucks could not pass through the blockade-hit Sadar Hills areas fearing attacks.

Strike supporters kept vigil along the Sadar Hills stretch of Imphal-Dimapur and Imphal-Jiribam highways since July 31 midnight, torching any vehicle violating the blockade.

Shivachandra Singh said if the government failed to restore supplies immediately, the humanitarian committee would take an initiative to constitute a forum of civil society bodies to form a human chain from Chandel district’s Pallel to Moreh, the border town, to turn to Myanmar and beyond.