IMPHAL, March 28: The Tongjeimarin District Demand Committee has called a 24-hour bandh from midnight of March 28.
A statement signed by the committee’s joint secretary R Din said all vehicular traffic will be banned completely except for medical duty, examinations, water supply, marriage and religious ceremonies from the purview of the bandh.
The bandh will be affected totally along three major roads: National Highway No. 37 from Kethelmandbi to Ijei Bridge Noney (Aga River) and section of Highway from Khongsang to Gularthol Police station bordering Jiribam sub-division, it said.
The committee had set March 25 as deadline for the Government of Manipur to grant a separate full-fledged district by carving out land Tamenglong, Senapati, Imphal East and Churachandpur, it said.
The bandh was called on March 25 and 26, however, considering the Yaoshang festival and Easter Sunday, the demand committee had adopted a fresh resolution to call the bandh from March 28 midnight, it said.
The total bandh will also be imposed the same on the Tongjeimarin Road (Old Cachar Road) from Chinikon to Reangpang converging National High Way No. 37, it said.
The bandh will be strictly executed on the road leading to Leimatak Power House from Loktak Project. All Government department offices shall close down within the proposed district, it said.
It said the committee would like to draw the attention of the Government of Manipur, public, organizations, intellectuals, far-sighted thinking people to view the situation seriously in regards to Sadar Hills and Jiribam district demands.
The former is dominated by the non-indigenous people like Nepali and Chin-Kukis who had recently found their new home in the sparsely populated lands of the Nagas and claimed it to be their own, which is not genuine claim to be granted a full-fledged district, it asserted.
It said the latter demand is totally not valid, how can Jiribam, which is just one sub-division and only an Assembly constituency about the size of Khoupum Valley of Tamenglong District be created a full-fledged district, it is a mockery of the public and creating unnecessary communal disharmony among the communities, it said. Jiribam be better merged to either Tamenglong district or join the movement to be included in the proposed Tongjeimarin district, it said.
Jiribam is dominated by the outsiders from Bangladesh and Bengalis as well, that we may not be able to handle the influx of outsiders if created district headquarter with the availability of modern amenities that will pull more unspecified populations from unknown directions, it said.
Reference can be taken from the example of Dimapur, Nagaland where immigrant populations outnumber the local people and the poor local people have been pushed to the periphery of the city, the outsiders ruled the heart of the town, it added.
If full-fledged districts are granted both the cases of the above mentioned Jiribam and Sadar, there is no meaning of Inner Line Permit System movement against the outsiders by the people of Manipur, particularly Imphal valley based community, it said.
The Tongjeimarin District Demand is the most valid demand backed by strong historical facts, it said.
The people living within the proposed district are all indigenous since the inception of early history of Kangleipak (Manipur), through generations this Tongjeimarin road has been the ambassador for closed attachment and harmony between the tribal and Meitei which still finds relevance at this juncture, it said.