Manipur on brink following siege of highway by Naga insurgency groups
11 May 2010
With Naga tribal groups have enforced an indefinite economic blockade protest the state government's decision not to allow entry to separatist leader Thuingaleng Muivah Manipur is facing a total breakdown of the movement of all supplies.
All routine surgeries have been put on hold in hospitals as the Naga agitation has hit supplies of oxygen cylinders at RIMS, the only medical college and hospital in Manipur that caters to the healthcare needs of state's 2.4 million people.
Even stocks of essential commodities, baby food, etc, have been drying up as hundreds of trucks carrying essentials and medicines have been stranded in neighbouring Nagaland after protesters laid siege to National Highway 39, the lifeline of Manipur, agitating against the state government's ban on allowing Muivah to his birthplace in Ukhrul district, about 220 km from Mao.
The blockade has literally brought the state to a halt.
The state, being landlocked, has to depend on supplies from other regions brought in by trucks from the rest of India as they pass through Nagaland.
According to Babloo Loitongbam, leader of Human Rights Alert, a leading rights group in the state, the blockade had led to acute shortage of food, medicine and other essential commodities. He added that state's life supporty system would collapse soon if urgent steps were not taken.