Our Correspondent
Imphal, April 11 (EMN): The second round of talk between the State Government and Churachandpur-based Joint Action Committee Against Anti- Tribal Bills (JACAATB) was held at CM Secretariat on Monday. Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh and his Council of Ministers, Chief Secretary O Nabakishore, DGP LM Khaute , DC Churachandpur R Sudan represented the government while 14-member team of the JAC was led by its Chief Convenor Mangchinkhup.
“The talks ended without an agreement,” a JAC leader told reporters after the meeting. The first round of talks between the two sides was held on April 7.
The talks ended with no major breakthrough on the JAC’s charter of demands,” they said.
State government officials said the JAC’s key demands include Sixth Schedule for hill districts, withdrawal of a government order to create seven new districts, ex-gratia compensation of Rs ten lakh each for the next of kin of those killed in the 2015 Churachandpur violence along with a government job and compensation of Rs one lakh each for those injured in the incident.
Talks between the two sides will continue further in the next round. In their first round of talk on Friday, CM had expressed his desire to let the families perform the last rites of the victims considering their mental trauma, official sources said. He also said any crisis or problem can be resolved through talks.
The JACAATB had been spearheading an agitation in Churachandpur after the then government passed three bills including the Protection of Manipur People’s Bills 2015 in the Assembly on August 31, 2015. Nine protestors were killed in police firing when the protest allegedly turned violent. Of the nine bodies, eight are still lying unclaimed in the Churachandpur District Hospital mortuary as a deadlock has persisted over the issues including burial of the bodies.
