An indefinite blockade and a two-day strike will be clamped in Manipur
from Tuesday even as the State is reeling from a 48-hour strike imposed
on Saturday.
The All Tribal Chiefs’ Forum has called for an indefinite blockade along
NH 2 and NH 37 to draw attention to its demand for release of funds for
development schemes. Government sources claimed that available funds
were not just for developing tribal areas.
The general strike, effective from Tuesday midnight, has been declared
by tribal organisations in protest against the abduction of two road
construction workers at Kasom Khullen.
The prices of essential goods have already skyrocketed after trucks
carrying consumer goods to the State were blockaded on NH 2 following
the 48-hour strike. The strike was imposed from 6 p.m. in protest
against the murder of a bus driver from Assam. The body of Munna Ali,
35, who was kidnapped by tribal militants on February 22, was recovered
from Senapati district on Saturday. Following the abduction,
Chandrakumar Rai, the owner of the bus that plied the Imphal-Dimapur
route, received a call demanding a whopping amount as illegal tax for
Ali’s release. A few months ago another driver from Assam was murdered
in Senapati for not paying illegal tax.