Shillong: Opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) on Thursday urged the Meghalaya government to maintain records of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Manipur entering the state.
VPP leaders met Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, who is in-charge of Home Department, seeking the government’s proactive approach with regard to IDPs from Manipur.
“We have requested the state government to keep proper records of the IDPs from Manipur so that all of them are accounted for,” VPP leader Batskhem Marboh told PTI.
“We appreciate the efforts of the state government to allow our fellow human being who have been affected by violence in Manipur to stay here on humanitarian grounds. At the same time, in the interest of our state and our people, our friends from Manipur should return to their state once normalcy is restored,” he added.
He said several families from Manipur have arrived in Meghalaya and are staying in certain localities.
More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki community people in Manipur that broke out a month ago. The state has imposed a curfew on 11 districts and banned the internet in a bid to stop the spread of rumours in the state.
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Clashes first broke out on May 3 after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals – Nagas and Kukis – constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.
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