Violence-gripped Manipur stares at food shortage

The violence in Manipur has taken a hit on agriculture as many farmers have been unable to tend to their fields and if the situation does not improve food production in the state will be affected a senior official said on Wednesday Department of Agriculture Director N Gojendro said farmers were unable to cultivate at least 5127 hectares of land leading to a loss of 1543723 metric tonnes until June 28lsquoLoss will increase ifrsquoldquoIf the farmers are unable to cultivate paddy this monsoon season the loss will increase by the end of July The department has however readied fertilisers and seeds that can be harvested in a shorter period of time and required lesser amount of waterrdquo he saidThere are around 23 lakh farmers in the state cultivating paddy on 195 lakh hectares of agricultural landThoubal district has the highest yield per hectare in the state he said Farmers fear that there might be a shortage of locally grown lsquoMeitei Ricersquo leading to price rise next year if farming is not carried out in full swing in all areas by the end of this monthBarring a few many farmers are abstaining from farming in the peak season for fear of their lives Thokchom Milan a farmer from Moidangpokpi said ldquoIncidents of firing on farmers from bunkers of militants on hilltops has paralysed paddy cultivation in the periphery of Imphal ValleyrdquoldquoSome of us go to the fields with fear in our hearts but we have to cultivate else we will go hungry an entire yearrdquo he said Chief Minister N Biren Singh had earlier said that 2000 state forces have been deployed in sensitive areas to patrol and provide security to farmers during cultivationFresh firing arsonIntermittent firings were witnessed in two places in the state the latest being at 430 am on Wednesday but no casualties have been reported so far security sources said here On Tuesday night an irate mob torched the house of Indian Reserve Battalion IRB personnel in Manipurrsquos Thoubal district police said on WednesdayThe incident took place at Samaram after a 27yearold man identified as Ronaldo was killed in a clash when a 700800strong mob tried to storm the camp of the 3rd IRB at Wangbal 4 km away to loot firearms The forces tried to bring the situation under control and used teargas shells and rubber bullets at first But as the armed mob opened fire the forces shot back officers saidNearly 120 people have died and over 3000 have been hurt since May 3Students attend a class at a school on Wednesday PicPTILow attendance on Day 1 of school after 2 monthsAfter remaining shut for more than a couple of months because of ethnic clashes schools up to Std VIII reopened across Manipur on Wednesday Though attendance in most institutes was extremely low on the first day students parents and guardians welcomed the state governmentrsquos decision to resume classes Most students with whom PTI interacted were happy to get back to school ldquoIrsquom keeping my fingers crossed Education is the key and I sincerely hope that peace returns to the staterdquo said Bhabesh Sharma father of a Std IV 4 student ldquoI am not scared to send my kids to school because the institute lies in the heart of Imphal But it will be great if the government makes arrangements for the safety of studentsrdquo Laishram Ibochouba another parent saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever