|
Manipur : Dam project off the block amidst general strike |
 |
The foundation stone of the controversial Tipaimukh dam project was laid in Manipur on Dec. 16 even as a general strike called by the anti-dam lobby crippled normal life across the state.
Union ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde and Sontosh Mohan Dev laid the foundation stones of the Tipaimukh project and the Loktak downstream project.
Shinde and three other Union ministers landed in the deserted capital on Dec. 16 while people stayed indoors in response to the 24-hour general strike. It was called by four NGOs, including the Action Committee Against Tipaimukh Project and the Committee Against Tipaimukh Dam.
Heavy Industry Minister Sontosh Mohan Dev, Minister of State in-charge of the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chouhan and Minister of State for Labour Oscar Fernandez accompanied Shinde.
Shinde, along with Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and several of his ministerial colleagues, including State Power Minister Francis Ngajokpa, and three Manipur MPs, travelled by helicopter to lay the foundation stone.
Rebels flushed out of border villages
Security forces claim to have cleared several villages along the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur’s Chandel district of militant presence during a weeklong crackdown. The flushout is continuing.
The office of the inspector-general, Assam Rifles (south), said in a statement that the offensive began under the 26 sector of the Assam Rifles on December 7 and the troops took over Khengjoy village after driving out militants of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) from the nearby areas.
On the second day, Sehao village was cleared. Though the militants did not put up much resistance in the following days, the soldiers came across some opposition during the operations on December 11 and 12 at Bailon village.
The UNLF is one of the major rebel groups of Manipur, which has been demanding a plebiscite to resolve the ongoing armed conflict in the state. The Khengjoy range, along the southeastern corner of Manipur, is known to be a stronghold of the outfit.
The offensive came after Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh said during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s one-day visit to Imphal on December 2 that the Khengjoy range was the only remaining place in the state where militant camps still existed. Addressing the gathering at the function inside Kangla Fort, Ibobi Singh said the troops had cleared various other parts of Manipur of militants, hinting that border villagers would be next.
The Assam Rifles claim to have killed two UNLF members on the day the offensive began. It also claimed that several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by militants before fleeing, were either recovered or neutralised.
The UNLF claimed to have inflicted heavy casualty on the advancing troops. It accused the security forces of shelling the areas heavily because of which a large number of villagers had to flee their homes.
The Assam Rifles denied the allegations, saying the UNLF forcibly took villagers from Khengjoy and took them to Molcham, another hamlet in the district.
This is the first major offensive since the Army moved into Tipaimukh, Henglep and Thanlon sub-divisions of Churachandpur district to flush out militants holed up there since January this year.
|
