NEW DELHI: Government employees in Manipur were forced by volunteers of a civil society organisation to leave their offices as part of a two-day shutdown of state and central government offices.
The student wing of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) entered the secretariat and the directorate of transport office, located just a few metres away from the Manipur Police headquarters and the CM bungalow, and asked employees to leave everything behind, officials told news agency PTI.
They even attempted to lock the gates, but were prevented by security officers.
Volunteers also entered the forest head office at Sanjenthong and the sub-divisional officer building at the DC Complex in Porompat, Imphal East district, and forced employees to leave despite the deployment of a large number of security personnel. The protesters managed to lock some office doors within the office complex, officials said.
Security personnel, including CRPF, were deployed in government offices across all valley districts and Jiribam.
“We started our campaign by shutting down state government offices. We hold government officials responsible for failing to restore peace and ending violence. We also urge government employees not to come to office,” coordinator Dhanakumar Meitei of COCOMI Students Front told reporters.
This comes a day after Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh said that a series of measures by the central and state governments are under way to address the recent violent incidents in Jiribam.
Massive combing operations have been launched in Jiribam and its surrounding areas to apprehend the perpetrators, with Singh pointing out that the operations will continue until those responsible are booked under the rule of law.