Correspondent IMPHAL, Aug 23 | Publish Date: 8/23/2021 12:36:58 PM IST
The 24-hour bandh called by All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM), apex body of tribal based student bodies, disrupted normal life in several parts of hill districts of Manipur on Monday.
Almost all shops, schools and other business establishments in the headquarters and major market places across the hill districts remained closed for the day.
Commercial vehicles including inter-district and long district passenger vehicles stayed off the road. Almost all the government offices functioned with thin attendance.
ATSUM imposed the bandh in the hill districts to protest against alleged state government’s failure to introduce newly drafted “Manipur (Hill Areas) Autonomous District Councils Bill 2021” in the ongoing monsoon session of the state assembly.
The session of the state Assembly, having three sittings will be concluded on Tuesday.
At headquarters of the hill districts and national highways passing through the districts, a large number of bandh supporters came out on the streets and imposed the bandh.
Except bandh supporters imposing the bandh by blocking roads at various places in the hill areas, there was no report of any untoward incident during the strike hours.
The bandh commenced from last midnight and was due to end by the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.
ATSUM went ahead with the bandh even as the state tribal affairs and hills department clarified the reason behind non-tabling of the proposed bill in the house of the state Assembly.
Even though most of the tribal student bodies and civil society organizations extended their support to the bandh-call, Thadou Students’ Association (TSA) did not endorse the bandh observing that it didn’t find any reason of calling bandh in the hill areas.
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