Vehicles stay off roads in Manipur

IMPHAL: All vehicles, including inter-State buses and trucks, in Manipur remained off the roads on Tuesday following the 12-hour strike called by some tribal organisations in the five hill districts protesting against the government attempt to hold elections to the Autonomous District Councils (ADC) for the election of 144 council members. The government had issued notifications for holding the elections on May 17 and 24.
The tribals have been protesting against the amendment of the Manipur State Hill Peoples' Administration Regulation, 1947 on September 11, 2009. In the 1947 notification, village names had been clearly mentioned and all the villagers have to pay house taxes.
Errors in notification
However in the amended delimitation notification about half of the villages have been left out. Besides, there are errors in the names of several villages. A Public Interest Litigation challenging the amendment is scheduled for hearing in the court on May 5.
Tribal organisations have aired their objections. They also burned the copies of the amended copies of the ADC Act, 2008. They told journalists that they failed to understand the motive of the government in ordering the elections now after a gap of 20 years.
As the tribal organisations including students' associations have said that there will be other forms of agitations if the elections based on the defective notification are not cancelled, indications are that there may be rethinking on the part of the government.