KOHIMA: A total of 553 more people, including 261 from Mon district, stranded in different parts of violence-hit Manipur safely reached Nagaland on Wednesday, in the second phase of rescue mission.
Among those evacuated on Wednesday, as many as 40 of them were from other states and the rest were from Nagaland, it was informed. While the majority of the returnees were youths, there were also senior citizens, parents, children and expectant mothers.
Speaking to journalists after a welcome programme organised by the Assam Rifle at D'Block in Kohima, Sub-Divisional Officer (C) Kohima Sadar, Chonpenthung Ezung, said they managed to rescue people in different parts of Manipur including Imphal, Thoubal, Churachandpur, and neighbouring districts of Chandel in the second mission.
Ezung, who was also a part of Team Nagaland’s rescue mission to Manipur, said 90% of returnees this time were workers who were earning their livelihood in different districts of Manipur. The rescue mission not only brought Nagas of Nagaland but also those stranded people from outside Nagaland including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam.
On receiving distress calls through the state helpline numbers from stranded people in different places of Manipur, the district administration and state police assisted by the Assam Rifles had carried out the rescue missions.
Around 30 to 40 stranded people from outside Nagaland were also evacuated during the second mission.
‘Since it is a rescue mission, on humanitarian grounds and on behalf of the state government, they were also evacuated as they will be passing Kohima and Dimapur to return home,’ he said.
'In the whole operation, the Assam Rifles were there from the beginning till the end. They were the ones who were going to the remote areas along with escorts and bringing the stranded people to the designated points and that is how we managed to bring them,’ he added.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]A total of 15 Nagaland State Transport buses and six light vehicles brought the stranded people in phase II.
Sanjay Verma (21), a construction worker from West Bengal who started working in Manipur a month ago, said there was no food supply due to the violence. Worried about the situation, he made attempts to reach out to the West Bengal government helpline numbers along with his friends, ‘but nothing was done’. On learning about the Nagaland government evacuation process through other stranded persons at the Assam Rifles camp, they decided to get onboard.
He added that about 15 persons from Silchar, a few from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were also evacuated.
Pupai Konyak (24) from Tobu sub-division in Mon district, who was working at a plywood factory in Thoubal district for about four months now, said that it was the Assam Rifles who brought the vehicles and evacuated them.
He added that he does not plan to return to Manipur even if the situation improves.
Neangmai Konyak, another worker at a plywood factory in Manipur, shared that ‘work was going as usual' in the area she was working as there was no violence.
'But we were not certain of what will happen next, that is why we came,’ she said.
They were requested to return for work once the situation improves; however, Konyak shared that she wouldn’t do so.
A senior citizen, who has been residing in Imphal for over 30 years as a church worker, said the church he worked in was also burned down.
Earlier, 676 stranded students and workers were evacuated in the first phase on Sunday.