Yumnam Khemchand Singh thanked Naga and Kuki communities for ensuring free movement along NH-2, calling their cooperation vital to restoring peace and normalcy in the state.
IMPHAL — Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh has thanked the Naga and Kuki communities for ensuring the free movement of public road transport services along National Highway-2 (NH-2), describing their cooperation and understanding as important steps towards restoring peace and normalcy in the State.
Khemchand was speaking at the 45th Hawkers’ Day celebration, organised for newspaper distributors, in Imphal on Tuesday.
The chief minister said the cooperation between the two communities was crucial for maintaining peace, restoring normalcy and ensuring the smooth movement of people and public transport services across the state.
Referring to an incident reported at Taphou village in Senapati district on Monday, Khemchand said MLAs and district authorities had intervened and persuaded members of both communities to ensure free movement and refrain from any activities that could disrupt the movement of vehicles.
Although public transport services were delayed for a few hours, he said services from Imphal resumed smoothly.
Public transport services along the Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati route via NH-2 continued for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday.
Around 300 passengers, including women and children, travelled from Imphal towards Dimapur and Guwahati in a fleet of five buses and nine Winger vehicles.
The resumption of services comes against the backdrop of the state government’s peace and reconciliation initiatives and the joint announcement made on August 8 at the Kangpokpi district headquarters regarding free movement along all National Highways.
Despite reports of incidents along stretches of NH-2, public road transport services on the highway have continued without interruption, the chief minister said.
Khemchand has been actively pursuing dialogue among different communities as part of his peace initiatives and has visited several hill districts since February this year.
Recalling his recent visit to Jiribam district, where communities that had lived together were separated following the crisis that began in May 2023, he said the government’s peace initiatives had helped bridge the divide and enable the communities to live together peacefully again.
He maintained that dialogue among communities was the key to bringing lasting peace and development to Manipur.
The chief minister also alleged that some individuals with vested interests were attempting to obstruct the government’s peace initiatives.
Khemchand said all communities residing in Manipur had contributed to safeguarding the integrity of the state in the past and called for collective efforts to protect it in the future.
He stressed that safeguarding the state was not the sole responsibility of the government but a collective responsibility of all its people.
Responding to a memorandum submitted by the hawkers’ association, the chief minister assured that its proposal for the creation of a corpus fund would be discussed at the next Cabinet meeting.