New Delhi: Economic crisis continues in Manipur even as the Centre's deadline to Naga groups to end the highway blockade has expired. In no mood to back down, the Nagas has called for another 24-hour strike while Manipuris continue to suffer under spiraling prices.
The price of rice has already reached Rs 100 per kilogram, LPG is available for Rs 1,200 a cylinder and petrol is being sold at Rs 150 per litre.
The economic blockade of Manipur has been going on for nearly two months by Naga outfits. Prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed even as Nagas continued to protest the state government's decision to stop NSCN-IM General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah's visit to his ancestral village in Ukhrul district of Manipur.
Routine surgeries had to be put off at hospitals as shelves are empty and oxygen cylinders cannot be refilled. The Centre's deadline for ending the blockade has expired and the Government is even mulling on rushing extra forces to the state to physically remove theNaga protestors.
"I think they have to call it off. I think the blockade is totally illegal. I think the illegal activity has to stop. We have made an appeal to the chief minister of Manipur as well as the Chief Minister of Nagaland to talk with these people and to ensure that the blockade is removed at the earliest because we cannot allow blockade to continue," said Union Home Secretary GK Pillai.
The Nagas though have not relented yet. They have called a 24-hour bandh in the state. Manipur Home Secretary DS Poonia's efforts to placate theNaga Student Federation seem to have had little effect.