From Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Unhappy over repeated blockades and bandhs especially in troubled Northeastern region, the Supreme Court has sought information from both the Centre and the affected state Governments what action they are contemplating to take to prevent its repetition.
The apex court on Monday sought this information while hearing a PIL seeking direction to the Centre and the Manipur government on the economic blockade by ethnic groups in the state causing severe hardships to people and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhya also tagged the matter for being heard along with the case relating to killing of Dalits in Haryana’s Mirchpur village in which the court is examining the financial and criminal liabilities of arsonists and protesters in such agitations.
The Supreme Court would hear the matter on Tuesday.
The PIL filed by retired UP DGP Prakash Singh has alleged that “the state government of Manipur is not enforcing the law of the land and the Central Government is acting a mute spectator to intransigent groups taking law into their own hands.”
According to the petition the blockade resorted to by the Kuki and Naga tribes had subjected the general public in the State to severe hardships and cited reports that while petrol was being sold Rs 200 per litres, gas cylinders was costing Rs 2000. There was “shortage of essential commodities whose prices have sky-rocketed,” the PIL said.
The petitioner also sought imposition of penalties including collective fines, as permissible under the law, against the people or groups involved in economic blockade and disruption of vital communication lines along the national highways often the only lifeline of the state or the region.