An indefinite blockade and a two-day strike will be clamped in Manipur from Tuesday even as the State is reeling from a 48-hour strike imposed on Saturday.
The All Tribal Chiefs’ Forum has called for an indefinite blockade along NH 2 and NH 37 to draw attention to its demand for release of funds for development schemes. Government sources claimed that available funds were not just for developing tribal areas.
The general strike, effective from Tuesday midnight, has been declared by tribal organisations in protest against the abduction of two road construction workers at Kasom Khullen.
The prices of essential goods have already skyrocketed after trucks carrying consumer goods to the State were blockaded on NH 2 following the 48-hour strike. The strike was imposed from 6 p.m. in protest against the murder of a bus driver from Assam. The body of Munna Ali, 35, who was kidnapped by tribal militants on February 22, was recovered from Senapati district on Saturday. Following the abduction, Chandrakumar Rai, the owner of the bus that plied the Imphal-Dimapur route, received a call demanding a whopping amount as illegal tax for Ali’s release. A few months ago another driver from Assam was murdered in Senapati for not paying illegal tax.
