The Assam Rifles has moved additional troops to secure a bridge on a national highway in south Manipur that is the only route for essential supplies to the tribal district of Churachandpur district in the violence-hit State. A source said that additional columns were moved after security forces picked up chatter from Valley-based Meitei insurgent groups who were planning to damage the bridge at Sinzawl on NH102 B, which connects Manipur with neighbouring Mizoram.
With highway blockades and the armed cadres of insurgent groups -- both Kuki and Meitei -- threatening free movement, the transport of essential supplies to various communities across the State has been endangered. On the one hand, Churachandpur, a Kuki-dominated area in the south of the State, has been getting essential supplies by road from Mizoram as protestors have blocked access from the northern Imphal Valley regions of the State; that is the road from Mizoram now being threatened by Meitei insurgents. On the other hand, Kuki groups in the north have blocked the main supply route to the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley, forcing a fallback on an alternative route. In the southeast, the border areas of Chandel and Tengnoupal, primarily Kuki and Naga-dominated districts, are now dependent on Myanmar for the supply of essentials as they are blocked from the rest of Manipur.
