Union Home Minister Amit Shah sets March 8 cutoff for clearing Manipur road blockades

New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday set a deadline of March 8 for security forces to clear all roads in Manipur blocked due to the ongoing ethnic conflict in the state, directing "strict action" against anyone trying to create obstructions.

The home minister's directive came at a high-level security review meeting, which was attended by Manipur governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Union home secretary, Intelligence Bureau director, deputy chief of army staff, army commander of the Eastern Command, director generals of Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Assam Rifles, and security advisor-Manipur.

This was the first review meeting since N Biren Singh resigned as chief minister and president's rule was imposed in the state. ET was the first to report on February 11 that Manipur may be headed for president's rule.


During the security review, Shah directed that fencing work on both sides of the designated entry points along Manipur's international border should be completed at the earliest. He said to make Manipur drug-free, the entire network involved in the drug trade should be dismantled.

On Friday, governor Bhalla extended the deadline for another week for armed groups to surrender arms and ammunition with a warning that "strict legal action would be taken as per law".

More than 600 weapons looted and illegally held, including sophisticated arms and a huge cache of ammunition, were returned to security forces till February 27, after the governor made the first public appeal on February 10.

So far, over 250 people have been killed in the strife. There are around 14,857 families residing in relief camps, which includes 18,843 males, 21,245 females, 12,977 male children and 13,763 female children.