Troops arrive in Manipur to clear blockade

The contingent of 88 CRPF personnel drove straight to the CRPF headquarters at Langjing, about 10 km from here, after reaching there from Delhi, official sources said.The deployment of Central forces on national highway 39 (Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati) and 53 (Imphal-Jiribam- Silchar), considered the lifelines of Manipur, was decided at a meeting Union Home secretary G K Pillai held with the Manipur chief secretary and two additional chief secretaries of Nagaland in Delhi on June 16.

Prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed due to the blockade by All Naga Students Union Manipur (ANSAM) which has affected both the valley and the hills.

The ANSAM blockade since early April was in protest against the holding of elections to autonomous district councils in the hills.

It was intensified after the Manipur government opposed the visit of NSCN-IM general secretary T Muivah to his ancestral village, Somdal, in Ukrul district early last month.
In Kohima, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said his government would provide security on the state’s sector of the NH 39 if truckers felt insecure in running their vehicles even after the the ‘temporary suspension’ of the economic blockade by the Naga Students’ Federation.