GUWAHATI: The Manipur government has plans to shut down all relief camps, housing people displaced by the ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kukis, by December.
The state’s Chief Secretary PK Singh told the media on Friday that the government would carry out resettlement of the people in three phases, the first of which is underway.
He said the government had come up with the three-phase resettlement plan following discussions “among ourselves” and also with the central government and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“Centre, state government, CSOs (civil society organisations) are working toward resettlement of the internally displaced people. A good number of them will go back. In fact, they have started going back. The number of displaced, which was 62,000 in the beginning, is now about 57,000. I took stock of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi yesterday. People have started going back,” Singh said.
In the second round, he said, people will go back by October, followed by the third round when they will leave the camps by December.
Singh said the government would provide financial assistance of Rs 3.03 lakh each to around 7,000-8,000 families, whose houses were destroyed during the violence, so they can rebuild them wherever they want.
“The second category is of around 7,000 people who had fled their homes. Their houses were not destroyed but are now dilapidated after two years of neglect. There will be some kind of monetary help for them as well,” Singh said.
“We feel that even after December, there will be around 8,000 to 10,000 people who will not be able to go back. They may be from Moreh, Kangpokpi or Churachandpur. They will be allowed to stay in pre-fabricated houses for which we are building over 1,000 of them. We have plans to shut the relief camps by December,” he further stated.
Adequate arrangements have been made for farming activities which are going on peacefully, he said, adding it is a good sign that both sides are farming together within an eyeball-to-eyeball distance and are sharing water.
“We have appealed to all civil society organisations to maintain calm. One odd incident can happen here and there. Some mischievous elements are there everywhere. Some people want it (conflict) to prolong. Some others want mischievous things to happen,” Singh said.
