A boy, who is not yet out of his teens is now fighting for his life in a private hospital in Imphal. He is from our locality in Imphal East District. His only fault is that he had chosen a wrong means of transport during the economic blockade to reach Guwahati.

The boy wanted to see life in outside Manipur more specially, the real train at Dimapur and Gauhati. On the 2nd June last, he requested one of his local elder brother who is a drive of a truck transporting goods from Assam to Manipur to allow him to go to Gauhati in the truck.

The brother agreed and the boy with his spirits very high started his maiden journey in the National Highway 39. There were four of them in the truck with one second driver and one helper boy.

On that day there were more than 100 trucks ready to go to Dimapur and Assam to fetch essential commodities. But there were only five security vehicles to escort the trucks upto Mao.

The security vehicles were divided into two, one group at the front, the other at the rear and none in the middle. The truck in which the boy was travelling happened to be in the middle of the long caravan with a gap of 200 or 300 metres with one truck and another.

When the convoy passed the Senapati Bazar and about to begin its climb in the winding upward road, a group of blockade supporters smashed the front glass of the truck with a stone.

The same stone hit the driver on the face. The driver instantly lost sense and thereby lost control of the steering and as a result the truck turn turtle near the roadside ditch. Out of the four occupants in the front sit, three got minor injuries but the teenage boy who was very eager to see the train, thrown out violently from the truck and fell flat on the hard surface.

He was immediately rushed to RIMS hospital and later shifted to a private hospital in Imphal. His condition is very critical at present. The doctors attending to him told that his spinal cord is injured severely and might have been torn. He is fighting for life at the crossroad of life and death.

Now the blockade has been lifted with amicable solution between Government and ATSUM. But the fate of the boy still hangs in balance. Why did the boy suffer? We may curse his fate but at the same time, some questions do arise in our minds. Why did the Government fail to negotiate with the ATSUM earlier if the Government has to budge in with the demands and some forms of agreements have to come up at the later stage? Why did the Government fail to give proper and adequate security coverage to each and every truck plying on NH 59 and NH53 during blockade days. At the same time a question also to the ATSUM, why did the blockade supporter act in such a heinous manner targeting direct to the driver of the speeding truck without thinking about the life and security of their fellow human being? And the last, what is the fault of the teenage boy!

We, the Manipuris as a whole are blockade and bandh loving people. We laugh at the miseries of others specially those who live on their daily wages. Bandhs and blockades are called at the drop of a hat even for a small demand.

As the two National Highways of NH39 and NH53 are the only two lifelines at present for the entire Manipur, blocking these two highways is the surest means to achieve the demand of the agitating party. Certain Section of people specially the people living in the hills use this device because they have got the idea that war can only be won if supply lines to stomach are blocked.

Why should we raise accusing fingers to the people of the hills? In this present scenario, in this social and political system of governance, if Meiteis living in the plain happen to live in the hills, they will also doing the same that is the blockade at the National Highways.

The five points demand raised by ATSUM are all genuine according to them. One or two needs the help of legislation taking into account the sentiment, aspiration and rights of other communities living in the state. The demands for revitalisation and activation of the office of the Additional Director of Education separately for hills and valley is very much needed.

It will help in smothering the working of the Education Department. It does not need to wait for instruction from some student body like ATSUM to ring the bell of alarm. It would have been done long before the blockade of the Highways.

About the Manipur Reservation of Vacancies in post and service (for SC and ST) Amendment Bill 2007, care should be taken so that the sentiments of the other minor communities and OBC’s should not be hurt.

One point the writer want to mention here is that the Govt is withdrawing jobs from many sectors. At the same time educated and qualified job seekers increase both in the general and reserved categories. Ultimately, a question arises, who will get the benefits.

There is a fierce competition among the best of the best in the general category. Those belong to Reserved Category want to reduce the competition and at the same time to reserve a greater share of the quota.

One vivid example is the recent outburst of the Gujjars in Rajasthan leading to many deaths. Gujjars are now in OBC category. Minas are in ST category. Both are living under the same State under the same social environments. The Gujjars wants to be included in the ST category because of the greater share of reservation. Being an OBC, there is a yardstick of ‘Creamy layers’.

In the ST/SC there is no creamy layer status. So the Gujjars wants to get the benefits of being a ST. But the Minas opposed it because they do not want to share the benefits and even ready for a show down of strength with the Gujjars.

Today, it is in Rajasthan, tomorrow it may in another parts of India. Manipur is also a part of India where there are so many tribes and OBC.

So, in the endpoint, I am making an earnest appeal here. Those who play the game of blockade (both in the hills and valley), those who are laughing in the ineptitude of the present Govt which acts only when everything turns into ash. Care should be taken so that innocents may not suffer for no faults of theirs.