Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday told the House that since the issue of indefinite bandh imposed along the National Highway-2 by Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) is not a state border dispute issue with Nagaland, the Manipur government and Nagaland government will try to solve it at the state level.
"If it is not solved at the state level, then we will solve it at the central level with central government as mediator," Biren said while responding to the calling attention motion moved by opposition MLA, K Ranjit Singh on the last day of the first session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly.
Biren assured that the state government will take necessary steps to bring the stranded people along the National Highway-2 in the next 1-2 days.
During the calling attention motion, Biren informed the House that as per international boundary map, three/four of the entire area of Dzuko valley belongs to Manipur while the remaining is for Nagaland but due to bad road connectivity, tourists use road from Nagaland side to reach Dzuko valley. And because of this, some people from Nagaland took the opportunity and harassed local tourists of Manipur, claiming that the entire area of Dzuko valley belongs to Nagaland, he added.
The issue has been continuing for the past many years and the state government needs to take necessary steps to solve the issue and for that, the state government should take a resolution immediately with the central government, he added.
Responding to the calling attention, leader of the House, N Biren Singh said the IRB out post set up at Kezoltsa area was for precautionary measures to avoid unwanted incidents for the local tourist of Manipur. The state government is planning to deploy State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) including fire brigade as a part of preventive measures to control wild fire occurred at Dzuko valley, he added.
The fact of the border has already been on the international boundary map and also the claim of the entire area of Dzuko valley for Nagaland is not made by the Nagaland government but made by some organisations. To discuss the matter, the state government has already written to the chief secretary Nagaland, said Biren.
