No fuel, no medicines, no food: Manipur blockade enters 100th day

The Manipur blockade has entered its 100th day and the situation in the state is desperate. There is only enough fuel to last the state one day, and hospitals have run out of essential medicines and basic lifesaving amenities such as oxygen. Essential items are at insupportably high prices. A Manipuri citizen has to pay between Rs. 1800- 2000/ cylinder for LPG, and Rs.200/litre for petrol. Potatoes cost Rs.40/kg, onions cost Rs.70/kg, sugar costs Rs.60/ kg and Pulses cost Rs.70/kg. Frustration is mounting.

In the Senapati district which is the epicentre of the blockade, there are almost daily scenes of unrest. Women gheraoing ministers, trucks in flames, and charred vehicles lining the roads have become commonplace sights.

The blockade was launched on 1 August on the Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati National Highway and the Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar by the minority Kuki group, who are demanding a separate district be carved out the Kuki-majority Sadar Hills. The Sadar Hills are situated inside the Naga-majority Senapati district. The Kukis and the Nagas have a bloody history of ethnic conflict. Almost immediately the United Naga Committee opposed the Kuki demand and launched a blockade of their own.

On 31 October which marked the 92nd since the blockade was first imposed, the Kuki group called off their blockade after the state government appointed a district reorganisation committee and promised to act on the report as soon as it came out. Speaking on the issue during his monthly briefing, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram praised the decision of the Kuki group and appealed to the Naga’s to also end their blockade.

The Chief Minister of Manipur Ibobi Singh has said that they are trying to open an alternate route for fuel trucks, adding that the state would be forced to take action if the UNC supporters did not lift the blockade. But to many, Singh’s words are too little too late. With assembly elections just around the corner, the Ibobi government has been reluctant to take tough decisions and it is the common man who has had to suffer.

In the meantime people continue to suffer intolerable hardship. Hospitals are crippled due to lack of supplies and forced to function on a day to day basis, not knowing whether or not they will have adequate supplies to last more than a day. Oxygen, IV drips, and essential medicines have run out, and many hospitals are being forced to turn away patients so that they will have enough for those already admitted into their care. Some have resorted to sending private vehicles to get medicines, but even then there is uncertainty on as to whether the vehicles will be able to return.

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And the youth of the state, forced to live with the hardship are understandably disillusioned. Many are planning to leave the state for higher studies and employment. Some estimates say up to 80% of the Manipur’s youth already leave due to the lack of opportunity. Yet others say that a separate state - a new Manipur - may be the only answer. But there are a few like 28-year-old Rajkumari Geetanjali who works as a dance therapist who feel it’s “important to stay back and work for Manipur”. But as the blockades continue with little being done to end it, the question that begs to be answered is, how long will they feel that way?