The team, headed by the the joint secretary (Northeast), ministry of home affairs, Navin Verma, had a lengthy discussion with chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, his council of ministers and senior police and civic officials.
Apart from home ministry officials, the team comprises officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, the DoNER, the railways, the ministries of road transport and highways, health and family welfare as well as petroleum, the Border Roads Organisation and FCI.
The three-and-a-half hour meeting, which began at 11am, discussed the situation in the state and ways to improve it.
The team has come at a time when the BJP is preparing to put the UPA government in the dock on the charge of neglecting Manipur’s crisis by moving two call attention motions in both the Houses of Parliament in the ongoing session. A BJP team, headed by Lok Sabha Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj, had arrived here on July 9 and met a cross section of people for first hand information on the supply of commodities in the state.
The government has failed to restore normal supply of commodities since the All Naga Students Association, Manipur, imposed an economic blockade on the state’s supply lines — Imphal-Dimapur and Imphal-Jiribam highways — from April 11 midnight to July 18 against the holding of autonomous district council elections in the hill districts. Petrol pumps are yet to reopen on a regular basis.
Ibobi Singh also admitted in the Assembly that some more time was needed for restoration of normal supply.
Transporters are boycotting the Imphal-Dimapur highway, demanding an end to illegal tax collection by militants besides frequent bandhs and blockades. They are using the Imphal-Jiribam highway but the trucks cannot bring enough supplies because of bad condition of the road and frequent landslides. The condition of the road has also proved dangerous for traffic. Three persons travelling in a truck died and its driver was seriously injured when the vehicle fell into a gorge near Jiribam last night.
The government forced some truckers to use the Imphal-Dimapur highway under security escort. But traffic movement on the road has stopped since Thursday after an 80feet stretch sank at Maram in Senapati district.
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