Manipur vehicles not to ply through Nagaland

Owners of trucks and buses in Manipur will not run their vehicles through Nagaland even if the blockade is lifted until the Centre and the government of the neighbouring state pays them compensation for damage caused to their vehicles,transporters said on Friday.

A spokesman of the Transporters and Drivers Council (TDC) Haridas,said that trucks and buses would not run on the National Highway 39 (Imphal-Kohima-Dimapur-Guwahati Road) till the compensation was paid.

He also demanded that the Centre and Nagaland government ensure that the Nagaland-based militants and civil organisations stop collecting illegal tax from vehicle owners and drivers of Manipur passing through the neighbouring state.

The All Naga Students Association Manipur (ANSAM) had launched the economic blockade from the midnight of April 11 to protest holding of elections to Autonomous District Councils in Manipur hills.