Reopen Ima Keithel: All Manipur Nupi Marup
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 28 2020:
Citing that vendors of Ima Keithel are severely affected by the continuing lockdown, All Manipur Nupi Marup (AMNM) has appealed to the State Government to consider reopening the market run exclusively by women and at the same time give Rs 20 thousand each to all vendors.
A press release issued by AMNM expressed disappointment over the State Government for allegedly not taking up any welfare measures for these particular vendors though Ima Keithel has been closed for about 3 months now.
The statement also stated that many of these vendors took a loan from a financial institution on a daily repayment basis.
Claiming that many vendors even lost their belongings at the time of repairing the keithel, it continued that the vendors of Ima Keithel are finding it hard to meet the living cost as they have no proper source of income.
Though street vending was allowed since some restrictions were dropped from the purview of the lockdown, the vendors are unable to earn much profit as police often strictly instruct them to end their activity by 9 am, AMNM said and cautioned that many vendors might suffer mental illness in this period of lockdown as their hardship is increasing each passing day.
The statement further appealed to the State Government to consider reopening Ima Keithel at the earliest.