'Ease Tensions in Manipur'

New Delhi, Oct 19 : Former union minister and social worker Mohan Dharia Monday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take urgent steps to ease tensions in Manipur and ensure that essential supplies reach the northeastern state which has been hit by a two-and-a-half-month-long blockade.

Dharia, a Padma Vibhushan awardee, urged the prime minister to ease the situation in the state before Oct 31 - when he is to be conferred with the 26th Indira Gandhi National Integration award.

In a four-page letter, Dharia has urged Manmohan Singh to appeal to the Manipuris to remove the blockade and maintain peace.

'There should be immediate supply of wheat, rice, petrol, gas cylinders etc,' Dharia wrote.

Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) began the indefinite road blockade agitation on the two crucial national highways, which link the northeastern state with the rest of the country.

They are demanding that the Sadar Hills sub-division in the Naga-dominated Senapati district in northern Manipur be upgraded as a full-fledged district.

The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex forum of Nagas in Manipur, has also been organising a counter-road blockade in all Naga-inhabited areas in northern Manipur, demanding that these areas should not be carved out without their consent.

The 78-day-long highway blockade to the state has severely hit the supply of essential commodities to the state.