IMPHAL: Normal life was affected in Manipur today in response to a 12-hr bandh called by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) demanding introduction of the Inner Line Permit Bill in the state Assembly immediately.
All business establishments, shops, markets, were closed in Imphal in response to the bandh, police said.
Interstate, inter-district passenger vehicles, including local taxis and autorishaws, were off the roads but some private vehicles were seen plying in the outskirts of Imphal, they said.
The JAC, which was demanding the passage of the Bill in the Assembly at the earliest, had called the bandh in protest against the three months time announced by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh yesterday for introducing the ILP bill in the Assembly.
The Joint Committee on Inner Line permit System (JCILPS) has given a deadline of 15 days for the Assembly to be convened for introduction of the ILP bill, JCILPS Joint Convenor Khomdram Ratan said.
The Chief Minister should announce the date for convening the Assembly before 4 PM today failing which, he said, the JCILPS would intensify their agitation.
Meanwhile, the body of student Sapam Robinhood, who was killed during a clash between the protestors and the police on July 8 last was yet to be taken by the JAC or the family members of the student, the police said.
The Chief Minister had told an emergency sitting of the Assembly yesterday that a new bill on the Inner Line Permit would be introduced in the Assembly within three months even as the House unanimously withdrew the Manipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants and Migrant Workers (MRVTMW) Bill, 2015.