GUWAHATI: Manipur’s Imphal valley has been virtually held to ransom by a Naga organisation, which enforced an indefinite “economic blockade” on two national highways that are the lifelines of the state.
The blockade, enforced since November 1, has caused an acute shortage of the essential commodities in the valley. As the oil depots have dried up, people are forced to buy petrol at Rs.250 and diesel at Rs.100 a litre from the black market.
The UNC, which is Manipur’s apex social organisation of the Nagas, enforced the blockade in protest against the state government’s move to upgrade Sadar Hills and Jiribam to full-fledged districts, allegedly without consulting the Nagas.
“There is a scarcity of fuel, LPG, essential commodities and building materials. However as of now, no such shortage of the live-saving drugs has been reported to me,” Manipur’s chief secretary O Nabakishore told Express from Imphal.
He said the Central government was looking at the issue from the security point of view and as such, agreed to send two companies of the CRPF to the state.
One of the two highways enters the Imphal valley through Nagaland, which is the shorter route. But the goods-laden trucks are not plying on it fearing trouble on the way. The other highway, which snails into the state from Assam, is a longer route. The condition of the road is deplorable. Also, areas that it crisscrosses in the state are infested with insurgents. The few goods-laden vehicles, plying on the road, are being escorted into the valley following resistance by UNC volunteers.
Meanwhile, the UNC has warned of intensifying the agitation if Okram Ibobi Singh’s Congress government fails to invite all stake holders, including Naga organisations, to discuss the issue of the elevation of Sadar Hills and Jiribam to full-fledged districts.
“It’s an old issue. Over the past many years, the government signed five MoUs with us, committing every time that it will consult the Nagas before taking a decision on the creation of a new district. But on October 30, it held a discreet meeting with the JAC (joint action committee) of Sadar Hills leading to the decisions. Later when we learnt about it, we submitted a representation to the government saying that Sadar Hills cannot be elevated to a district without consulting the Nagas as it is their ancestral homeland. But there hasn’t been any response since,” UNC general secretary Milan Shimray told Express from an undisclosed location on Thursday.
As the blockade supporters have started targeting more and more goods-laden vehicles, the police are going after the UNC leaders. In Milan’s words, they were being “hunted” by the police. Last week, the police arrested UNC president Gaidon Kamei.
The tribal Kukis are in a large majority in Sadar Hills. Calling them migrants, Milan said if Sadar Hills got upgraded to a district, the Kukis would try and make it their homeland which they envisaged.
“Jiribam, a sub-division of Imphal West district, is 220km away from Imphal. (Naga-inhabited) Tamenglong district lies between them. The government insists that it is being upgraded to a district for administrative convenience. But can’t they make it a sub-division of Tamenglong? Actually, the government’s whole idea is to make Jiribam a district by carving out land from Tamenglong. To create a district, there must be a defined demarcated area but this aspect is being hidden,” Milan alleged.
He warned that the blockade would continue as long as the UNC was assured in writing that Nagas and all stake holders would be consulted prior to the creation of the districts.