IMPHAL, April 9 (NNN): A police booth and one vehicle were set afire as villagers protesting against land survey at Yaithibi Loukol in Kakching district of Manipur continued their agitation. The police also fired tear gas shells to quell the villagers protesting by blocking the Imphal-Moreh section of NH-102 at Sora area from early on Friday morning, reports said.
In a bid to open the highway for normal traffic, police resorted to firing several rounds of tear gas shells and mock bombs which the protesters retaliated with stones and sling shots. During the clash, a group of villagers stormed the police booth near a local police outpost and torched it by dragging it out on the road. They further set afire a motorcycle suspected to belong to the police, reports added.
Some agitators reportedly sustained injuries which need no immediate medical attention in the police action.
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Despite the hectic efforts of the police, normal traffic along the highway remained blocked for the day, forcing almost all kinds of vehicles to strand midway.
The villagers of Sora and its neighbouring villages were protesting against the government’s attempt to conduct a land survey at Yaithibi Loukol in Manipur’s Kakching district. They were agitating against the land survey for demarcation of the boundary of the lands acquired by the state government from Thursday. The lands at Yaithibi Loukol were acquired by the government for the construction of the permanent campus of the National Sports University which was later shifted to Imphal West district. However, the state government is planning to develop a mega food park in acquired land amid the strong demand for returning the lands to the respective owners by the villagers.
The fresh agitation erupted on Thursday when officials of the concerned department of the state government entered the area to conduct the survey with a strong police team.
Continuing the agitation, the villagers today came out on the road along the Imphal-Moreh section of NH-102 and blocked movement of all kinds of vehicles.
Mention may be made here that at least three police personnel including an additional SP of Kakching district police and some villagers were injured as clashes broke on the first day of the agitation on Thursday.
