Displaced people from border town of Moreh in Manipur have rejected the state government’s plan to lodge them at temporary home shelters constructed at Yaithibi Loukol in Thoubal district.
Most of the Meitei people displaced from Moreh town in the wake of a chain of violence erupted in the state since May 3 last were taking shelter at a relief camp opened at Wangjing Lamding Higher Secondary School in Thoubal district of Manipur.
The state government is constructing prefabricated houses at Yaithibi Loukol as temporary home shelters for the displaced people.
The displaced people, in a meeting convened on November 13 at the relief camp, deliberated on the government’s plan to shift them to the temporary home shelter.
The meeting adopted a resolution rejecting the government plan while asserting that if the government has a desire to shift from the relief camp, then they should be allowed to move to their original places in Moreh.
The meeting reaffirmed that if the government forces them out of the relief camp, they would rather stay on the streets instead of sheltering at the temporary shelter homes.
Talking to reporters on the sideline of the meeting, a woman inmate said: “We would like to return to our original homes at Moreh instead of staying in the temporary home shelters.”
She added that they should be allowed to stay in the relief camp until normalcy is restored and allow them to resettle them to their original places in the border town.
She said that the Manipur government provided all the basic amenities but they could not lead a happy life as they were staying in the relief camp like refugees in their own state.
“But this is not what we like. What we want is to return back to our original homes and lead a normal life with our own earnings,” she said.
While echoing the voices, other inmates of the relief camp appealed to the government to take up steps to resettle them in their own places at Moreh instead of trying to shift them to temporary housing shelters.
