GUWAHATI: Nagaland and Manipur are going to face a dearth of essential commodities after an umbrella organisation comprising a few pressure groups has enforced a 1,000-hour bandh in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district demanding statehood encompassing two Sixth Schedule hill districts.
The bandh, which began at 5 am on Monday, has been called by the Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (JACAS) “to press for two major demands -- resumption of talks with the Central Government on the issue of creating the autonomous state encompassing Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts and the introduction of a Bill in Parliament for the creation of the state within the ambit of Article 244 (A) of the Constitution”. NH 39, which passes through Karbi Anglong, is the lifeline of Nagaland and Manipur. Half of Nagaland and the whole of Manipur are entirely dependent on it for supplies. Official sources said vehicles were being escorted to and from Nagaland following the bandh call. But it was learnt that not many vehicles were out on the highway. There have been many instances of vehicles being attacked during bandhs. Sensing trouble, Nagaland CM T R Zeliang has written to the Centre pointing out that the bandh would choke supplies. He urged Rajnath Singh to ensure that the people of Nagaland and Manipur were not affected. “We are not in favour of holding talks just for the sake of discussion. We want the government to finalise the structure of autonomous state on the basis of the proposal submitted by us on November 6, last, to the MHA,” a JACAS spokesman told Express.
Two rounds of talks held with the MHA earlier had proved inconclusive.