Guwahati: Manipur govt Wednesday resumed interdistrict public bus services on four routes from Imphal valley to the hills, which have remained suspended for 19 months since the Meitei-Kuki clashes erupted in the state last year.
The govt announced that it would run the state-run Manipur State Transport (MST) buses on Imphal-Kangpokpi-Senapati, Senapati-Kangpokpi-Imphal, Imphal-Bishnupur-Churachandpur and Churachandpur-Bishnupur-Imphal routes with "adequate security."
Officials said buses from Imphal to Churachandpur and Kangpokpi in the hills found no passengers, while a few were seen waiting for the buses to take them from Imphal to Bishnupur.
Senapati is a Naga-dominated area, while Kangpokpi and Churachandpur are Kuki-majority and Imphal and Bishnupur are Meitei-dominated areas.
"The state govt has reviewed the law and order situation in the state with the availability of security forces, response system and feasibility inputs from different agencies and has decided to resume traffic of public vehicles with adequate security deployment," chief secretary Vineet Joshi said in the order to resume the public transport, adding that the initiative aims to alleviate the public grievances.
The chief secretary, in his order, stated that initially the movement of the public transport will be for fixed hours only and invited people willing to travel by any of these routes to get in touch with the deputy commissioners concerned.
The chief secretary appealed to the people to cooperate with the administration and not to resort to violence or illegal acts that may disturb the movement of the vehicles along these routes.
"Anybody without exemption, if involved in acts which disturb movement of vehicles, will be sternly dealt with and prosecuted as per relevant laws of the land," the order stated.
This is the administration's second bid to resume public transport in the state in 19 months
Last Dec, the govt made an attempt to run state transport buses from Imphal to Senapati via Kangpokpi and Imphal to Churachandpur via Bishnupur. This initiative failed on the first day as near-empty buses plied between Imphal and Churachandpur, while vehicles plying between Imphal and Kangpokpi had to return due to barricades put up on the road by protesters