On Saturday a 24-hour total shutdown to protest against delay in elections to the autonomous district councils (ADCs) affected life throughout the hill districts of Manipur.
All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur (ATSUM) imposed the 24-hour shutd
The strike that commenced from Friday midnight evoked good response with most of the market places, schools and colleges, business establishment and banks remaining shut.
Hundreds of Imphal-bound transport vehicles including inter-state buses and taxis were reportedly stranded at Nagaland-Manipur border along NH-2 and at Jiribam along NH-37 owing to the strike. Transport services including inter-state and inter-district were also suspended.
Protesters came out on the streets at various parts of the hill districts, particularly at district headquarters and along state and national highways and prevented vehicular movement, reports culled out from the strike hit districts said.
In a bid to disturb vehicular movement, protesters set alight discarded tyres and debris at various places. At some places, police seized the discarded tyres.
The strike continued peacefully without any untoward incident reported from any part of the strike hit districts
All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur, the apex body of tribal-based student bodies in Manipur went ahead with the total shutdown strike after no agreement was reached in its talk with the state government at the chief minister’s level on March 11, ahead of commencement of strike.
Earlier, the student body set a March 11 deadline for the state government to issue necessary notifications for elections which the state government had already assured of conduct at the earliest.
The terms of the six ADCs covering the entire hill districts of the state had expired in May, 2020. However, the state government extended the terms for six months which had also expired on 30th November, 2020.
