IMPHAL, July 7: About 116 trucks have been stranded in between Mao and Tadubi after the Southern Angami Youth Organization blocked the National Highway No. 2.
The highway bandh came in the aftermath of a hijacking incident.
A Tata DI vehicle from Nagaland was hijacked by some unidentified persons from Tadubi area on June 21 and later recovered by the police from Wangoi Shantipur on June 24.
Two suspected hijackers were also arrested but released on bail due to lack of evidence.
The recovered vehicle is still at Mao Police Station and the owner is refusing to take the vehicle back. Meanwhile, the Southern Angami Youth Organization blocked the national highway demanding the Manipur Police to handover the vehicle and culprits to them.
The representatives of Southern Angami Youth Organization have not turned up for the meeting called by the DC and SP of Kohima.
Last night, the trucks on the Dimapur-Kohima highway was instructed to leave for Manipur and not linger in Nagaland territory and as such 116 trucks crossed over to Mao from Nagaland as of this morning.
On the other hand, a large number of transport vehicles including buses and four wheelers were told to leave Dimapur by certain elements this morning which eventually halted at a police station in the outskirts of Kohima.
The passengers of the buses and four wheeler taxis stranded near Kohima faced untold hardships with no food or welcome at the locality.
A passenger called up IFP and said that while they were stranded on the highway a Nagaland minister who was passing by stopped and inquired about the situation. The passengers unknown to the happenings of the hijacking incident related their predicament to the minister.
The minister went on without giving any definite assurance to the Manipur passengers. Their main worry was the lack of protection on the highway.
Meanwhile, the state cabinet reportedly discussed the situation of Manipur passengers on the highway today. But no action to assure the security of the Manipur passengers was seen forthcoming.