Imphal, August 09 2010: The office of the Khadi and Village Industries at Lamphel, locked by KCP activists two days back, was broken open today with the intervention of the Consumers Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister, Y Erabot.

The office was locked with three padlocks by underground elements said to be activists of the KCP(MC)-Lamyanba Khuman Group in connection with extortion demand of Rs 60 lakh on Saturday last.

They locked the office chamber of the Chief Executive Officer, computer room and the main gate of the office.

A source from the office said that before locking up the office with padlock, a youth said to be an activist of the KCP(MC)-Lamyanba Khuman frequently visited the office for the last one month or so and pressed the officials to pay the demanded amount.

The group pressurised the amount be paid by siphoning off funds released by the Central government for implementation of Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) to the Khadi and Village Industries (KVI) through the state government, the source said.

Out of the total amount of Rs 60 lakh, the extortionists explained that Rs 30 lakh was the due amount which the office failed to pay up last year.

This was disclosed by the group of officers of the KVI.

Taking advantage of the lean attendance of office staff, they locked the office with padlocks in the afternoon of last Saturday.

While locking the office, they gave a mobile phone contact number asking it be handed over to the officer concerned to contact them.

Earlier there was an instance of threatening the Chief Executive Officer, N Ibobi in his office chamber with guns to pay up the money at the earliest.

Later, they delivered a demand letter.

Apparently at not getting any positive response from the office, the activists locked the office on Saturday last.

Before leaving the office complex, they threatened the staff not to inform the police, employees of the office disclosed.

CAF&PD minister who came to know the matter today visited the office at about noon with his personal security escort and broke down the padlocks and allowed the staff of the office to discharge their duty.

Industries minister criticized the act of the undergrounds and said that by their acts of extortion, employees are unable to discharge their duties peacefully in their offices.

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