Manipur hill districts wear deserted look following 12-hour bandh call by ATSUM over reservation in jobs

As the All Tribal Students Union Manipur (ATSUM)-called the 12-hour bandh in Manipur's hill districts began at 6 AM this morning, the hill districts of Senapati and Churachandpur appeared abandoned, with vacant streets, business facilities closed, and no cars on the streets. Today's bandh will go till 6 PM 

So far, the bandh, which began at 6 AM, has been quiet, with no adverse events recorded. 

ATSUM moved forward with its bandh call despite RIMS officials requesting that they put the bandh call on hold, indicating that the Union Health Ministry is looking into the situation and that they will hear from the Centre shortly. 

The ATSUM has called for a bandh to protest the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) inability to enforce the reservation policy in positions. 

Also Read: Manipur: Naga students body extends support to ATSUM's 12-hour bandh in Manipur

While several tribal and student organisations supported the bandh call, including the All Naga Students Association of Manipur (ANSAM), Kuki Student's Organisation (KSO), and Senapati District Student's Association (SDSA), as many as six student bodies--All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU), Manipuri Students' Federation (MSF), Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur (DESAM), Kangleipak Students' Association (KSA), Students' Union of Kangleipak (SUK).

The All Naga Students Association, Manipur (ANSAM) and Kuki Students' Organisation (KSO) have extended their support to the 12-hour shutdown called by the All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM).

In an official statement, the Naga student association said, ''ANSAM is perturbed with the perfidious nature of the authority of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for failing to respect and abide by the resolutions written in the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed between the RIMS and ATSUM in presence of state government on April 3 pertaining to the issue demanding scrapping and rectification of the recently declared result for the appointment of Lower Division Clerks (LDCs).

''ANSAM has decided to support the 12 hours band in the best interests of the whole tribal populace and Lawmaker in India demanding for the implementation of the rights given in the constitution to uphold the sanctity of democracy in India,'' it added.

On the other hand, KSO urged the general public to cooperate and appealed to its constituent units and sub-ordinate bodies to strictly endorse the proposed bandh in their respective jurisdictions with an understanding that the RIMS authorities will be solely responsible for any untoward incidents.

On April 22, ATSUM decided to go ahead with its proposed 12-hour shutdown tomorrow to protest the failure of RIMS to implement the reservation in jobs.