Blockade by Naga group fuels a crisis in Manipur
GUWAHATI: National Highways 2 and 53 are the lifelines of Manipur. But for past eight days, a tribal organisation has enforced a blockade of NH-2, which enters the state via Nagaland, because of a land dispute. No commercial or private vehicles are being allowed to enter Manipur since March 21, when the Southern Angami Public Organisation of Nagaland announced the indefinite bandh.
As a result of the blockade, petrol pumps in Manipur are slowly drying up. According to people in the Imphal valley, they are forced to buy petrol and diesel in black market at `120-150 and `110-120 per litre, respectively. However, there was no shortage of other essential commodities, including medicines, as of now, a state government official said.
NH-2 is preferred by transporters as NH-53 enters Manipur from Assam, but is a much longer route and usually avoided due to security reasons. The Southern Angami Public Organisation has enforced the blockade in protest against Manipur government’s construction activities and deployment of armed security personnel to the disputed Kezoltsa/Dzuko valley.
The Tenyimi People’s Organisation, a tribal organisation in Nagaland, said when an ‘arbitration undertaking’ was signed in 2017 by three contending parties to resolve the dispute, the Manipur government deployed armed personnel and constructed permanent RCC barracks, besides other infrastructure, at the site. The bandh organisers want Manipur to stop construction and withdraw the personnel.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh, however, said the construction was undertaken 100 metres inside Manipur’s territory. He claimed some Dzuko valley areas belonged to Manipur and the rest to Nagaland. But as tourists used roads from Nagaland to reach there, some people in the state started claiming the entire Valley belonged to the state.