Imphal: A large number of angry villagers on Monday blocked Sawombung to Sagolmang via Keibi road in Imphal East district and protested against Manipur government’s apathy towards repairing the shabby road.
Residents of the villages on the sides of the stretch of the road came out on the road and imposed the blockade while declaring that the blockade will continue until road improvement works begin.
The blockade commenced early today mornin. The villagers blocked plying of all kinds of vehicles except those of essential services.
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The police tried their best to pacify the protesters to lift the blockade. The protesters, however, remained steadfast on their stand.
They declared the blockade will not be lifted until the road repairing works commence.
They also put a condition to the police that they may consider lifting the blockade if the Works minister or the chief engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) or a responsible officer of the department comes to the spot and hold talks with them.
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Residents of the villages on the sides of the stretch of the 15 km long road have been pressing the state government to repair the highly dilapidated road for a long time.
Failure to pay heed to their demand, the residents launched the protest after forming a body called Ad-hoc Committee Sawombung to Sagolmang via Keibi Road recently.
Earlier, the committee had set a December 4 deadline to begin the repairing works and with no positive response came from the government, they commenced the blockade from today.
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