Our Correspondent
IMPHAL, May 1
The angry Gwaltabi village locality and its neighbours have called indefinite bandh along the Imphal-Ukhrul road affecting the normal vehicular movement along the 74 km long highway on Friday. The bandh also forced many vehicles to take other alternative routes to reach their destinations.
The decision to call the indefinite bandh was reportedly taken during a public meeting which was attended by villagers of Gwaltabi and its neighbouring villages, sources reaching here said.
Many vehicles passing the Gwaltabi and its nearby areas were hit during the day.
Earlier in the morning some of the Ukhrul bound vehicles took their wheels along Muirei-Thawai villages route to hit Imphal-Ukhrul route(84 km) near Sikibung.
On Thursday night, many houses and shops of Gwaltani, a foothill village, located about 30 km east of Imphal along the Imphal-Ukhrul road under the Lamlai Police Station were allegedly damaged by a group of people.
The incident took place as fallout of a misunderstanding between supporters of bandh called by All Tribal Chiefs’ Forum Manipur demanding full payment of funds under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the villagers over the blocking of the road.
Demanding arrest and punishment of accused persons involved in Thursday night’s incident, the villagers of trouble torn Gwaltabi called indefinite bandh on Imphal-Ukhrul route forcing many Imphal bound official team to take Sanakeithel-Saikul-Sagolmang route from popular Mahadev junction of the said route while Ukhrul bound vehicles reportedly stranded in Imphal.
The affected villagers are also demanding compensation against the properties lost, suspension of SDPO, Officer in Charges of Lamlai police station and Yaingangpokpi police out post for their alleged failure to control the situation.
Besides representatives of civil society organisations, local MLA Ksh Biren (Lamlai constituency) along with Deputy Commissioner Imphal East district also visited the Gwaltabi to oversee the situation on Friday.
