As many as 1,140 Manipuri students, employees and others, who left Chennai on board a special train on May 10, reached Manipur’s Jiribam railway station on Wednesday. The returning passengers, who hail from 6 districts of the State, were received by a team of senior officials led by chief secretary J. Suresh Babu and sent on their onward journey to quarantine centres in their respective districts after having their body temperature screened at the station.
Also read: Manipur gearing to receive special train with 1,141 from Chennai
Police personnel and troops from the Assam Rifles and CRPF were among the security forces deployed in and around the railway station to ensure that there were no untoward incidents. Local television news operators were allowed live telecast of the arrival of the train for just 10 minutes by the district administration.
While the State government gave attention and supervision to the special train that arrived from Chennai there was hardly anybody to monitor the return of students who came to Imphal on Tuesday in seven vehicles from Guwahati (Assam) and Shillong (Meghalaya). Some of the students reportedly hired a few taxis to go to the quarantine centres.
On Wednesday, there was, however, some delay in clearing the 1,140 passengers who returned from Chennai as there were not enough booths where the body temperature could be recorded.
P.K. Singh, the resident commissioner at the Manipur House in Delhi, said that the process for bringing Manipuri students and others in Delhi would start from May 18. Earlier, Mr. Singh also distributed food items to the stranded students from the State.
Khaidem Mani, the acting chairperson of the Manipur Human Rights Commission, said: “We are in receipt of complaints on the alleged violations of human rights in some quarantine centres in the State. We have directed the government to look into the complaints since the complaints are about food shortages, violation of human rights and inadequate supply of water. We will make surprise visits to some quarantine centres in this regard”.
There had also been complaints of inadequate toilet facilities and washrooms at these centres.
