An indefinite national highway blockade by a Naga students' body for almost past two months has pushed Manipur, one of the seven sisters of North-East, to the brink of collapse as the state is witnessing an abnormal scarcity of almost every goods and items, right from cooking gas, fuel to life saving drugs.
Supply of goods and commodities to the state has been chocked by the students' body for two months, and a failed state government and an indifferent Centre have left the state bleeding and the people hapless.
One wonders, if the situation were with any other state from the mainland, hadn't the Centre plunged into action to restore supply of goods to the state at the earliest?
Could the centre leave the fate of the people of one of its states at the mercy of a students' body?
It is learnt that petrol, diesel and kerosene are nowhere to get these days in Manipur, and in the black market, a litre of petrol, that too adulterated, costs somewhere around Rs 170. Similarly, an LPG cylinder costs around Rs 1,200 in the black market.
What's more serious and agonising is the acute scarcity of life saving drugs and oxygen cylinders in the state.
The state is also witnessing swirling food prices and scarcity of every other essential commodity, including eatables and vegetables.
Petroleum products and drugs are being presently airlifted in limited quantities to Manipur from Guwahati.
The national highways blockade started on April 12 by a Naga students' body called 'All-Naga Students' Association' demanding greater autonomy to Naga-inhabitated hill districts.
The blockade got further intensified after Manipur refused entry of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) leader Thuignaleng Muivah on May 3 and subsequent death of 3 Naga protesters in police firing. The same organisation had, in 2005, imposed a similar highway blockade that went on for 52 days.
The national highway 39, that connects Manipur to Numaligarh in central Assam via Nagaland is the lifeline for Manipur, in the absence of any rail link, solely depends on road transport.
