GUWAHATI: The petrol pumps in Manipur are slowly drying up as a tribal organisation in neighbouring Nagaland enforced an indefinite bandh on a national highway over land dispute.
Locals in Manipur’s Imphal valley said petrol and diesel were being sold at Rs 120-150 and Rs 110-120 a litre respectively in the black market.
As of now, there is no shortage of essential commodities or medicines, a Manipur government official said.
National Highways 2 and 53 are the lifelines of Manipur. NH 2 enters the state via Nagaland and is preferred by the transporters. NH 53 enters from Assam but is a much longer route and not preferred due to security reasons.
No commercial or private vehicles are plying to Manipur via Nagaland since March 21 when the Southern Angami Public Organisation enforced the bandh. It is influential in areas bordering Manipur’s Senapati district.
Initially, the organisation had called a 72-hour bandh in protest against Manipur government’s construction activities and deployment of armed personnel to the disputed Kezoltsa/Dzuko valley. The bandh was subsequently extended for an indefinite period.
As a counter measure, the All Assam Manipuri Youths’ Association announced an indefinite blockade on NH 2 in Assam from Sunday midnight. Like Manipur, Nagaland depends heavily on this highway for supplies.
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 by following the Naga customary way and on traditional ownership, the Manipur government deployed its armed personnel and constructed permanent RCC barracks besides other infrastructure at the site.
The bandh organisers want the Manipur government to stop the construction activities and withdraw the armed personnel.
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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said it was not an interstate border issue and his government would try to resolve it at the state-level. He said if required, it would be resolved with the involvement of the central government.
Dismissing allegation, he said the construction was undertaken 100 metres inside Manipur’s territory from the interstate border. He claimed three to four of the entire Dzuko valley area belonged to Manipur and the rest to Nagaland.
He said as tourists used roads from Nagaland to reach Dzuko valley, some people in Nagaland started claiming that the entire valley belonged to the state.