Current existence of the people Surviving Manipur
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Surviving Manipur. This is life lesson number 1 for majority of the people and this should be understood beyond the ongoing ethnic clash that has claimed over 220 lives, displaced thousands with many others still untraceable. So even as thousands continue to languish in the different shelter homes set up across the length and breadth of the State, people have to cope with the acute shortage of cooking gas and sky rocketing prices of all essential items. Hits the common people, not the suited, booted class of people and the shortage of cooking gas may be understood better in the backdrop of the report that the IOCL’s Sekmai bottling plant is likely to release 40 truckloads of filled LPG cylinders to the consumers. This report comes in the backdrop of the statement purportedly given by a Government official that there is enough stock of LPG or no shortage in the stock of cooking gas at the bottling plant. The fact however is that many families are running short of cooking gas and hereby hangs a tale, a tale which may prompt the more discerning citizens to read between the line to get a clearer picture of the reality. If the bottling plant at Sekmai has enough stock of cooking gas then why hasn’t the same been distributed to the consumers, is the question that should follow. It is amid this that LPG distributors were constrained to go on a sit-in protest just a few days back against the inability to meet the demand of the consumers as well as the monetary demands served on them by different power players. No one knows when things will improve and the bigger area of concern is no one knows what steps the Government has taken up or is mulling to take up to put the State on the track of normalcy and the gravity of the unrest may be better understood against the fact that a number of travel agencies whose vehicles operated on the Imphal to Dimapur or Imphal to Guwahati line have been left high and dry and this has been going on for over 14 months now. The situation should be looked beyond the owners of the inter-State buses and taxis but also at the plight of the drivers, the handy men, those at the ticketing counters, those dealing in arranging transportation of parcels by road etc. Normalcy should be understood beyond the loud reports of gunshots or direct clashes but also whether the earning avenues of the people have been restored or not. This is one primary reason why the recent claim of the Prime Minister that situation has normalised a great deal found no takers in Manipur. A case of being misled or a refusal to take cognizance of the fact and this does not paint the stand of Delhi in any positive light and the BJP led Government at Imphal and Delhi should understand why its candidate lost so badly in the Lok Sabha election in the Inner Parliamentary Constituency and why the candidate the BJP had supported in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency failed to cut ice with the voters.
Everything that can go wrong went wrong a long time back, and the matter of greater concern at the moment is the seeming lack of any effort from the side of the Government to restore normalcy. Imphal and Delhi should acknowledge the reality and sincerely see what may be done. The Sangai Express has been maintaining that it is important for Delhi to chart out the roadmap to restore normalcy and explore all the possibilities. The Peace Committee that was set up during the initial days of the clash has turned out to be a damp squib and it is only right that Delhi looks at the possibility of forming another such committee. Rope in the service of the Naga community, a community which has maintained a neutral position. See if the service of Naga organisations such as the United Naga Council (UNC), Naga People’s Organisation of Senapati, the Tangkhul Naga Long of Ukhrul etc may be utilised to break the ice and start the process of bringing people from either side of the clash divide to the dialogue table. What may be included in the agenda of the dialogue may be left to the wisdom of Delhi. So even as Manipur and her people continue to reel under the impact of the ongoing clash, other things that can go wrong have also gone wrong and the tragedy of the place and her people seems to be complete. Acute shortage of cooking gas, erratic power supply, pathetic road conditions in the heart of Imphal and this is where the line ‘surviving Manipur’ becomes relevant.
Everything that can go wrong went wrong a long time back, and the matter of greater concern at the moment is the seeming lack of any effort from the side of the Government to restore normalcy. Imphal and Delhi should acknowledge the reality and sincerely see what may be done. The Sangai Express has been maintaining that it is important for Delhi to chart out the roadmap to restore normalcy and explore all the possibilities. The Peace Committee that was set up during the initial days of the clash has turned out to be a damp squib and it is only right that Delhi looks at the possibility of forming another such committee. Rope in the service of the Naga community, a community which has maintained a neutral position. See if the service of Naga organisations such as the United Naga Council (UNC), Naga People’s Organisation of Senapati, the Tangkhul Naga Long of Ukhrul etc may be utilised to break the ice and start the process of bringing people from either side of the clash divide to the dialogue table. What may be included in the agenda of the dialogue may be left to the wisdom of Delhi. So even as Manipur and her people continue to reel under the impact of the ongoing clash, other things that can go wrong have also gone wrong and the tragedy of the place and her people seems to be complete. Acute shortage of cooking gas, erratic power supply, pathetic road conditions in the heart of Imphal and this is where the line ‘surviving Manipur’ becomes relevant.