Water supply to both valley and hills in Manipur was stopped indefinitely from today by angry employees of the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) to protest the killing of an employee and his son by militants.
A spokesman of the PHED employees association told reporters that they would continue their agitation until an agreement was reached between the state government and joint action committee formed by local residents of the victims.
He said their stir may cause inconvenience to the general public but they were compelled to launch the strike since the authorities failed to take any action or to arrest the kidnappers of PHED guard Ibomcha Singh and his son Yaipu by militants.
Official sources said both the father and son had been kidnapped from Irilbung water supply centre in Imphal east district on December 7 last by militants who had demanded Rs 20 lakh as ransom amount from the department.
How could the militants kill Ibomcha Singh, who was not a regular employee but on work charge and his son, asked the PHED Minister, Mr T.N. Haokip, saying it was really “inhuman” and kidnappers were “criminals’’.
Officials said the bodies of Ibomcha Singh and his son were recovered yesterday morning with bullet injuries at Yairipok area in Thoubal district.
They said some militants, who called themselves as Kangleipak Communist Party-Mobil Task Force (Kesho faction), had kidnapped the victims from their official quarters at Irilbung area, about 8 km south of here, on December 7 last.
Several civil organisations strongly condemned the incident, saying the victims were innocent. They said police and department authorities had failed to rescue the two.
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