Laden freight trucks arrive under escort
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: August 29 2011 -

Over 500 goods trucks arrived in Imphal under heavy escort provided by the police, the Assam Rifles and the CRPF. This has lifted the hearts of tens of thousands.

The depletion of stocks of essential commodities had caused great concern to the people of the state, both in the valley and in the hills. The scarcity of these commodities had resulted in a steep increase in prices and this had made life miserable particularly to the poor.

Dwindling stocks of life saving drugs and other life saving commodities required by hospitals had become another cause of deep anxiety. It is against this back drop that the arrival of the goods trucks has come as a relief.

There are a few questions the public have a right to know the answers thereof. Though there been instances in the past, of goods being ferried to Imphal both from Dimapur and from Jiribam with security provided by armed personnel, this latest case is a bit different.

The marked difference is the speed with which this decision to lift goods was arrived at and acted upon. Was it that the government received better co-operation from the para military forces?

Or was it that the agitating bodies enforcing bandhs on the national highways had tacitly agreed to the to and fro movement of essential commodities ?

Or was it a combination of all these? These are questions not asked by an inquisitive mind but out of the necessity of knowing the facts.

If the over 500 trucks were successfully brought to Imphal primarily because of the prompt and determined decision of the government we ask the government to continue its work and see to it that the people do not suffer from a fear psychosis created by lack of essential commodities.

And then if the para military forces had lent a decisive hand by extending security cover to ensure the safe passage of the trucks, they should be thanked, and the government should see it that their good rapport be strengthened.

The 500 odd goods trucks which were safely escorted to Imphal have made people feel that if such convoys of trucks can always be depended upon, as and required, the sick feeling of a state of siege will no longer be a burden on them.

The government then will have done its primary job of providing security to the people. Let it not be lost to the government that the majority of the people feel that by imposing blockades on the national highways, blockade enforcers are trying to bring into submission not just the government but also the general populace.

Finally, for the general population who live in the hills it is known to all that the rise in prices of essential commodities, or at times, the lack of them, have hurt them as anyone else. Together let us understand and accept one thing as common knowledge, our hardships are man made.

And that decisions which cause misery to the people are made by leaders and not by the common people. If we have the collective wisdom, we must not allow this scourge of targeting innocent people, sparing not even children, to hurt us.

Let the leaders champion for causes but let us not allow them to create animosity or hatred among the common people.