Manipur govt constructing 3,000 pre-fabricated houses for violence-hit peopleYe

The Manipur government is racing against time to complete the first batch of prefabricated houses to shelter 3,000 families displaced by the ethnic violence so that they can shift from relief camps.

Many of those affected by the strife have been sheltering in the temporary relief camps for more than three months.

Superintending Engineer P Brojendro of Manipur Police Housing Corporation Limited, which is undertaking the project, told sources.

Noting that 200 houses being built near Sajiwa Jail in Imphal East district is nearing completion, the official said that each house will have two rooms and a toilet and there will be common kitchens, while ten houses will form a row.

Around 160 labourers are working to complete the 200 prefabricated houses, the deadline for which is August 20.

He said labourers for assembling the houses were brought in by flights while the foundation was done by local workers.

Prefabricated houses for at least 400 families are being built in the Yaithibi Loukol area in Thoubal district, and another 120 at Kwakta in Bishnupur district.

Similar houses are also being built at Sekmai in Imphal West district and Sawombung in Imphal East.

The internally-displaced people (IDPs), who will be celebrating Independence Day in their makeshift shelters, feel shifting to the newly constructed houses is a good move but yearn to return to their homes from where they had to flee when riots broke out.

Another IDP, Ranjita S, however, said she was looking forward to shifting to the new place of residence.

Notably, more than 160 people lost their lives and several hundred were injured since the ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Many people have been rendered homeless in the violence, with some even seeking shelter in neighbouring states, as their houses have been gutted in the ethnic strife.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. 

Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.