MDA urges Govt to curb extortion on highways
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 26 2023: The Manipur Drivers' Associa-tion (MDA) has urged the Government to take up immediate measures to curb extortion of money by armed persons from vehicles plying on National Highways, specially in the surrounding areas of Motbung in Kangpokpi district.

At the Kwakeithel office of the MDA yesterday, its secretary, Sanjay Kshetri-mayum said since the last many weeks, unknown armed persons have been extorting money and collecting illegal taxes from the drivers by intimidating them on the National Highway in the surrounding areas of Motbung.

The MDA has received many complaints of such incidents from the drivers and other drivers' organisations, he said.

While such cases of extortion of money from the drivers by intimidating them with arms were frequent along Imphal-Dimapur and Imphal-Jiribam road earlier, it had gone down for a while, he said.

The Manipur Drivers' Association along with sister organisations such as the Senapati District Truck Drivers' Union, Senapati District Truck Owners' Association and All Manipur Gorkha Truck Owners and Drivers Union take the issue very seriously and are deeply disturbed , he added.

The Government and authorities concerned should take immediate and concrete steps to curb such incidents and ensure safety of the drivers, he said.

Sanjay also appealed to the people residing along the National Highway and civil bodies to understand the grievances of the drivers and take up collective efforts to stop such incidents from happening in their respective areas.

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