ATSUM (Tombing) irked by police case against it
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, November 17 2013:
Irked by the registration of a case against it with the Tamenglong police station, All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM) has fumed that the move of the State Government is nothing but an act of tyranny.
An FIR has been registered against ATSUM (Tombing) for the alleged threat to workers engaged in the construction of railway line in Tamenglong district.
As part of its second phase of agitation under the code-name ''Reckoning of the Other (ROTO), All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM) under the 'leadership' of its president Muan Tombing has banned all the national projects in Manipur including the ongoing railway line construction in Tamenglong district since the midnight of November 11 .
"We did not resort to any violent activity nor did we assault any worker.
Why a case against us?" asked Muan Tombing, the president of ATSUM.
He asserted that the student body is resorting to a democratic mode of agitation after having found no option to protect the tribal peoples' rights enshrined in the Constitution of India.
"We are not demanding what is not ours.
We are demanding our rights granted by the Constitution of India," stated Tombing, while terming the registration of a case against it as 'unfortunate" .
ATSUM's demands included better condition of educational atmosphere in the hill districts by appointing or recruiting adequate teaching and non-teaching staff and taking care of necessary infrastructure.
In this regard, ATSUM also demanded setting up of B.Ed centres in the hill districts.
Furthermore, the tribal student body demanded early solution of the crises related to Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) in the State.
Other demands of ATSUM included improvement of healthcare system in the hill districts by making all the PHSCs, PHCs, CHCs and DHCs functional through posting of required specialists doctors and nurses and provided proper equipments, establishment of a separate State Commission for Scheduled Tribe (ST) in Manipur, adherence to ST reservation norms as per the latest roster, equitable development through special economic package for the hill areas of Manipur, effective governance of the hill areas, ensuring proper functioning of the Hill Area Committee (HAC), to bring the present Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in Manipur at par with other ADCs in the North-Eastern states of India, re-organisation (Delimitation) of assembly seats on the basis of the latest population census and sharing 30/30 seats between the hills and the valley and protection of tribal rights on land and natural resources.
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