IMPHAL, August 14: The first day
of the 48-hour Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) 'total bandh' in
Manipur today was effective in Kuki dominated areas with no inter-state
and inter-district transporters operating their services. All the
education institutes, shops and other activisties were severely affected
in Kuki dominated areas of Manipur.
The KSDC is demanding a separate statehood for the Kukis in Manipur. Meanwhile, except for Churachandpur, there was no untoward incident reported anywhere in the state because of the bandh which began last midnight.
In Churachandpur, late this morning the bandh supporters were thwarted strongly by the people who opposed the KSDC bandh. Reports said at Zenhang Lamka area in the Churachandpur district headquarters, when the bandh supporters came to enforce their bandh by asking the shop-keepers to close their shops, the people who opposed the bandh confronted them and there were skirmishes. However, police arrived and the situation was controlled. Minutes later, a similar incident happened at New Bazar (New Market) in the town which was controlled by the police.
Meanwhile, a separate report said one hawker who supplies newspapers to Churachandpur town was attacked by the bandh supporters at Kaparang village in Churachandpur district. The report said that the scooter of the hawker was damaged in the incident. The hawker has been identified as one Jadumani. However, the bandh supporters later after knowing that he was a newspaper hawker, they compensated him by paying Rs 4000, the report said.