Special Buses Sent to Guwahati from Imphal to Bring Back Manipuris

| SANJOO THANGJAM, IMPHAL - 29 Apr 2020

By Sanjoo Thangjam, Special Correspondent, IOP, Imphal

IMPHAL: Wednesday, April 29, 2020

The Government of Manipur have sent four special buses from Imphal on Wednesday to pick up the first batch of 84 Manipuris stranded at Manipur Bhavan, Guwahati and bring them back to the state.

Principal Secretary (GAD, Transport) flagged off the four buses with both Under Secretaries of GAD from Mantripukhri at about 5.30 PM on Wednesday. The four buses comprise of eight drivers and four handymen with Thounaojam Shantikumar Singh as team leader. Registration numbers of the buses are MN01-0298, ML05-1809, MN01-1664 and AC 01-4909.

The said buses will bring back the first batch of 84 Manipuris, being stranded and currently lodged at Manipur Bhavan, Guwahati. GAD also handed over 500 bottles of Hand Sanitizers and 500 Face Masks for use at the Manipur Bhavan, Guwahati and the stranded passengers.

Four packets of packaged drinking waters were also handed over to the drivers of the buses for their use enroute.

Manipur Police has requested the Assam Police and Nagaland police to inform all checkpoints along the Imphal-Dimapur road National highway for smooth passage of the Manipuri passengers, sources said.

According to COVID-19 Common Control Room, Government of Manipur, the 84 Manipuris stranded at Manipur Bhawan Guwahati, will be returning to the state on May 1.

They will be received at Mao Entry Point between 6:00 AM to 12:00 noon and the symptomatic individuals will immediately be referred to RIMS or JNIMS. Non-symptomatic persons will be escorted to Quarantine centres at Imphal for testing. Those persons with negative results will be sent to their homes for Home Quarantine.

Around 200 Manipuris who wished to return home are being stranded in Guwahati at present. The stranded Manipuris who will be brought back home will be kept at different quarantine centres. 10 Government employees each will be deployed at every quarantine centre.

So far, around 43,000 stranded Manipuris who wish to seek help from the state Government have registered in ‘Tengbang’ website. Rs.2000 each have been credited to the accounts of 17000 Manipuris stranded outside the state, added the source.

Image courtesy - The Morning Bell / File representational image from Facebook