Temjenrenba Anichar
Dimapur, August 3
IT would appear that the ghost of Telangana is set to hit Nagaland in a much wider scale than previously experienced with repercussions being restricted only to its eastern part , vis-à-vis the ENPO demand for Frontier State.Even as next-door Assam continues to burn, following widespread road and railway blockade imposed by three influential organizations namely the All Bodo Students Union, All Koch Rajbongshi Students Union and Karbi People’s Liberation Front in the aftermath of the Centre’s decision to form Telangana, the commercial hub of Dimapur has already started to feel the pinch of the blockade in Assam.
By Saturday afternoon, most paanwallas in Dimapur were already pulling down shutters due to shortage of paan leaves in the market. Unlike other commercial items, the shelf -life of paan leaves are no more than a day especially during summer months in Dimapur.
Each day, 40-50 large baskets of paan leaves arrive in Dimapur via the railroad from Kolkata, West Bengal. Each basket contains 5-6 thousand paan leaves.
A shopkeeper in Marwari Patti told Eastern Mirror that even wholesale outlets have ran out of paan leaves in Dimapur. “On an average I sell 300 paans per day. Today there was shortage in the wholesale outlet, so I got only around 150 leaves because the trains have been stranded somewhere in Assam,” he said.
There are fears that commercial items, including food items, might also suffer from shortage if the situation in Assam stretches for another few days. The two cheaper means of transportation, road and railway, into Nagaland have been completely closed down.
The situation has raised enough alarm to provoke the Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) to call for a meeting on August 5 next. President of DCCI, Hokivi Chishi told Eastern Mirror that all the goods train, bound for Dimapur have been stranded at Kamakhya Railway station in Kamrup, Assam.
“Is not just the paan leaves but other essential commodities might also be hit if the blockade continues,” he said. Chishi said that there would be no other option but to airlift the goods, in case the Assam situation fails to take a turn for better.
“We have called for a meeting on August 5 and will discuss everything related to the issue,” he said.
It might also be mentioned that economic activities in Manipur, not just Nagaland, are also severely affected when there are any sort of road or railway blockades in Assam.
