Manipur: Amid acute food shortage, Congress calls for ‘tsunami’ efforts
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, June 12: A fact finding team of the Congress has claimed that over one lakh people in Manipur are facing acute food shortage, while migration is taking place unabated in the ethnic violence-stricken state in the North-east. The ongoing blockade of the national highway has further aggravated the availability of the essential commodities, claimed the fact-finding team of the Congress.
“The people are forced to migrate. The situation in Manipur is quite grim. There is a need for urgent steps to address the issue of the lack of availability of the essential commodities,” said Mukul Wasnik, the Congress leader, who was part of the fact-finding mission.
The Congress communication department chairman, Jairam Ramesh, demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should visit Manipur. He also demanded that the Centre should decide on sending an all-party delegation to Manipur.
“The highway blockade has made the transportation of the foodgrains a dauting task in Manipur. This calls for taking up extraordinary measures to respond to the grave crisis in the North-eastern state. It may be recalled that when sea waters had flooded Andaman and Nicobar Island during the 2004 tsunami, drinking water was sent to the Nicobar Island from Karnataka through the air route. Similar measure should now be taken for Manipur in reaching foodgrains and other essential commodities,” added Wasnik.
The Congress in-charge for Manipur, Bhaktacharan Das, claimed that the situation on the ground in Manipur is quite grim, and a miniscule of the stolen weapons of the security forces have been recovered. “President Droupadi Murmu is a tribal and also a woman. Even she can visit Manipur, which can give comforts to the people in the state. The people in the state are asking, why even ministers have stopped coming to the state,” said Das.
The Congress called for confidence building measures in Manipur. “When the prime minister can go to Balasore, which he did rightly, why cannot he visit Manipur. Why is he not speaking on the issue of Manipur violence,” asked Ramesh.
Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah had visited Manipur recently and peace committees have been constituted to help bring peace in the state. Meitei and Kuki tribes have been fighting against each other after the high court directed that the majority Meitei tribe be included in the scheduled tribe category.
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