Our Correspondent
IMPHAL,March 2
Urging the state government to fulfil a charter of demands, the All Manipur VDF (Village Defence Force) Welfare Association devised a protest rally near Tera Bazaar in Imphal on Monday.
Holding playcards which read 'Increase VDF salaries','Don't transform VDF into beggars’, 'Provide separate Battalion for VDF' etc, a large number of VDF personnel in their khaki attire took part in the protest rally, in which the protesters were halted by a team of Imphal west district police at Tera , about 3 km west of Imphal.According to information culled from the spot, a six-member representative of the association including its general secretary A Ravi Singh and president Deven have rushed to the state assembly complex along with some police officers to submit a memorandum to the speaker and state cabinet minister in connection with their demands.
The demands according to the memorandum include increase of the VDF honorarium to Rs 10000 a month, 13 month's pay to be enjoyed by VDF personnel with immediate effect or no duties be assigned to VDF personnel on Sundays and holidays, establishment of Separate battalion for VDF personnel headed by a Superintendent of Police, development of service book for VDF personnel so as to create service security.
During the day’s protest rally, the association members have told the media that they will launch various forms of agitation including arm-down strike, economic blockage if the state government fails to meet the demands.
On the sideline of the protest, they further claimed that most of them were given duties for 24-hour a day with an honorarium just Rs 4000 with an additional of Rs 1000 as monthly ration money. There are around 10,500 VDF personnel in the state.
