Migrants Flee Manipur (Premanand from Imphal)
Imphal, March 4: Migrant workers have started leaving Manipur despite assurances by the Okram Ibobi Singh government that all possible measures have been taken for their protection. The workers are in a state of fear after unidentified assailants gunned down three of their community between Saturday and Sunday in Imphal West, prompting the government to open a relief camp. The victims were a barber, a juice vendor and a hawker. Over a hundred migrant workers from various parts of the state have been put up at the relief camp opened at a dharmasala in the city yesterday. The Imphal Bazar Board, a body of the trading communities, set up the relief camp with support from the state government. Fear and uncertainty writ large on their faces, anxious migrants gathered around the board’s convenor, Amrik Singh Pawah, inside the courtyard of the dharmasala, waiting for a word on the latest situation in the wake of the killings. Pawah has been co-ordinating between the government and the migrants. He confirmed that seven migrant workers who were brought by the police to the camp yesterday left for their homes in Bihar this morning. Several other migrants are also preparing to go back to their homes, fearing more such attacks in the state. “We will assess the situation for some more days. If we do not feel safe by then to go out to work, we will go back to our home in Baksar district of Bihar,” Rajkumar Sahu said. Sahu used to sell all kinds of goods, including biscuits and sweets, in different parts of the valley on a bicycle. He brought his wife and five children to the relief camp this morning following suggestions from other migrants at the camp. “Unless the government creates an environment where the migrants are secure, there is no other alternative but to go back home. We have to worry about the payment of school and examination fees for children back home. We cannot stay at the relief camp and also go out to work, risking our lives,” said Mohan Shah, a hawker. Government officials and police are paying regular visits to the relief camp since yesterday to reassure the migrants that adequate measures have been taken for their safety. However, the government is asking the migrants to stay put at the camp for some more days. Unofficial sources said a large number of migrants left the state immediately after the first killing that took place at Ingudam Leirak in Imphal West on Saturday. The police today escorted nine more migrants from different parts of the valley to the relief camp. A total of 142 migrants are taking shelter at the camp, after seven left for Bihar this morning. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The police have not been able to name the suspects either. The last rites of the body of Rajkumar Choudhury, the juice vendor, were performed today at Minuthong cremation ground of the city. The other two bodies had been cremated earlier.
