Imphal, February 10 2010: "Even if it is of the press, the vehicle would not be allowed to go without giving Rs 10".These were the exact words used by the IRB personnel on duty at Chingmeirong Khongnang Karak who asked for money when the goods laden trucks which were stranded at Mao Gate finally arrived at Imphal after the agitating Senapati District Students' Association (SDSA) relaxed its indefinite economic blockade for 36 hours with effect from 6 am today.

Today's incident is not the first case of security personnel asking money from the goods carrier trucks plying along the National Highway.

Next to the illegal taxes imposed by various UG groups, monetary demand of the security personnel is another problem that the truck drivers and the owners have been encountering along the route every day.

As soon as the goods laden trucks which have remained stranded at Mao Gate for the last many days started moving, Mao police rushed in to collect Rs 100 from each of the trucks before giving the signal to go ahead.

The story is the same at Senapati and Sekmai where the truck drivers have to shell out yet another Rs 100 each to get the green signal of the respective local police.

In the name of issuing entry passes, the goods laden trucks that have come traversing along the dusty and long winding deplorable hilly road track were made to stop in a long queue at these collection points.

In between, the truck drivers have to pay Rs 10 to 20 to the Motor Vehicle staff.

Even to a casual observer, the activities of the security personnel, who are supposed to ensure protection of the vehicles and travellers alike on the National Highway but appear to be more engrossed in monetary collections, would not be missed.

As the long line of goods laden trucks inched towards Imphal, they were stopped again at Koirengei area where police personnel collect Rs 10 to 20 again.

This was not the end of the travails of the truck drivers.

At Khongnang Ani Karak, Chingmeirong, IRB personnel on duty left aside their duty for a while and busy themselves in collecting Rs 10 from each of the trucks.

Contending that no vehicle would be allowed to go ahead without paying Rs 10, the IRB personnel forcefully took Rs 10 even from one of the trucks carrying the newsprint rolls of The Sangai Express.

It has also been learnt that while passing through Nagaland, all the Imphal-bound trucks are asked to pay Rs 200 to 300 at atleast six different police check points and there is no escape from this payment.

On top of subjecting to all these monetary collections and imposition of illegal taxes by various UG groups all along the National Highway within Manipur and Nagaland, the truck drivers have to get ready for shelling out anything between Rs 5000 to 15,000 to avoid the goods being transported to a UG group as they enter Dimapur.

Within Assam, though there is no fix amount against such routine collections, the truck drivers do have to take care for the Chai-Pani of the Khaki men.

It may be recalled here that Assam police had taken Rs 100 from the Winger Maxi van carrying media persons from Manipur on their way to cover the hearing of the Justice Agarwal Inquiry Commission at Manipur Bhavan, Guwahati on February 8 .

When another police team made a similar demand, the media team threatened to report the matter to their higher officer and was consequently led off without any payment.

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