GUWAHATI: The bodies of three of four Manipur villagers, reported missing since Wednesday after they went out reportedly to fetch firewood from a jungle on the border of Bishnupur-Churachandpur districts, were recovered on Thursday morning, PTI reported.
Senior officials could not be reached over the phone. The locals claimed the bodies were being taken to the state capital Imphal for autopsy. They also said that a search operation was on to trace the fourth missing person.
Earlier, the four were identified as Oinam Romen, Ahanthem Dara, Thoudam Ibomcha and T Ananda, all of them Meiteis from Kumbi Terakhong in the Bishnupur district.
A gunfight was reported on the Bishnupur-Churachandpur border on Wednesday. Security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition during search operations in the fringe and vulnerable areas of Imphal West, Kakching, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Imphal East and Churachandpur districts, the police said.
The state has remained restive since May 3 when ethnic violence broke out between Meiteis and Kukis after a tribal solidarity march on the ST issue. The violence has left some 200 people dead and 60,000 others displaced so far.
Meanwhile, a viscous black liquid was found flowing in a rivulet in the state, triggering panic among locals. Some people noticed the spillage on Wednesday night and informed the authorities immediately.
“Leakage of ‘heavy fuel’ from Leimakhong Power Station has been reported, leading to spillover of the discharge along streams passing through Kantosabal, Sekmai etc. The stream meets the Imphal River downstream by flowing through Khurkhul-Loitang-Kameng-Iroisemba-Nambul,” the chief minister’s office said in a statement.
The state government requested all concerned to take immediate necessary action, making use of all available resources in terms of machinery, manpower and expertise, to prevent an environmental calamity.
“Response mechanism/SoP for such events may be immediately activated,” the statement further said.
According to reports, the locals depend on the rivulet for daily household chores. They have now stopped using its water.
Leimakhong is a small town in the Kuki-majority hill district of Kangpokpi. The Army’s divisional headquarters is located here. Imphal is 30 km away.