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| Manipur - Road connections to rest of India |
This North-Eastern state is connected to rest of India mainly
through two highways - NH 39 (connecting Manipur to Dimapur, Nagaland) and NH
53 (connecting Manipur to Silchar, Assam). Apart from this Manipur has an
airport in capital Imphal - Tulihal Airport, Changangei. In short, all essential
items have to come to the state through these three routes. Transporting
commodities through air is costly, Manipur is no exemption; so remaining routes
are two national highways.
In such a situation, what will happen to the state if someone
blocked these arteries to protest? Considering large number of ethnic groups
with conflicting demands, this is not a rare scenario. Any blockade on these
highways will severely affect the people. Unfortunately, many times in the past
various groups blocked these roads to register their protest or to show
strength.
38 hour blockade by ‘All Tribal Students Union Manipur
(ATSUM)’ started from Saturday midnight is the latest in the series. Their
demand is to establish a "State commission for the Scheduled Tribes in the
hill areas for holding the Teacher Eligibility Test in the hill stations and
other academic facilities". Fortunately, this blockade was for 38 hours.
Last time it ran in to many weeks. Tomorrow, some other group will find some
other reason to block these highways. Whoever doing this, in whatever name,
people of Manipur are going to suffer.
In a democratic nation, citizens have full right to raise
their demands and to protest. However, if it is through cutting the supply
lines to a state, then both central and state governments should take serious
actions - both talks as well as strict measures on ground. At the same time,
government should speed up the projects to connect NE states to mainland India
through Bangladesh and to Bay of Bengal through Myanmar (Burma). This will help
the land locked states to get supplies from other places we well.
Sajeev.
PS: According to one report, "providing armed
escort, police brought 33 trucks and 12 buses here from Mao where the vehicles
were stranded."
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