Imphal | July 16 : The twin protests in Manipur on Thursday have affected normal life in the state. The Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur (DESAM)'s 120-hour bandh demanding the release of detained student leaders under National Security Act (NSA) and the indefinite economic blockade imposed by All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM) over the reservation issue kick-started since midnight of Wednesday.
Though educational institutions have been exempted from the purview of the DESAM bandh, the attendance percentage of students in their respective institutions were quite low today while goods transporters failed to ply along the two national highways leading to Manipur owing to the ATSUM protest. Large numbers of goods laden Imphal bound trucks are reportedly stranded at the Manipur-Nagaland border.
Meanwhile, inspite of the efforts of the state government to make the bandh called by Democratic Students’ Alliance (DESAM) ineffective, shops and business establishments in the Imphal area were mostly closed with attendance in educational institutions and offices being poor to nil.
Passenger buses plying between the districts of Manipur were mostly off the road and the inter state buses were also not to be seen. Traffic was thin in the streets of Imphal where only vehicles of security personnel and some private two wheelers and four wheelers were seen. Traffic police were seen at some traffic points in the forenoon but not in the afternoon.
The senior superintendent of police of Imphal West L. Kailun had appealed to the public not to support the bandh and come out for their normal activities. In the morning police vehicles were seen going around the commercial area in Imphal asking shopkeepers to open their shops through loud speakers.
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