Imphal, March 15: As the All Manipur Rickshaw Drivers' and Pullers' Association were demanding fitting actions against responsible officials of the Imphal Municipal Council for issuing two identical registration numbers to two rickshaws, there was a furore in the IMC as a large number of rickshaw pullers arrived there and started vandalising some furniture items of the office.

Earlier, the two rickshaws with identical numbers were pulled by the AMRDPWA from Old Lambulane and brought them to IMC where they demanded fitting actions against the erring officials.

The two rickshaws belong to Md Farooq of Hatta and Rakip Shah of Naharup and bear the same registration number V 1377.The number was issued to Md Farooq on March 19, 2004 and again to Rakip Shah on April 3, 2004.Amidst the furore when the rickshaw pullers were demanding to meet the IMC Chairperson, DSP Muhindro of Traffic Police arrived there and tried to pacify the rickshaw pullers.

At that moment Councillor Ch Joykumar and executive officer W Bhaktaraj came out and assured the enraged rickshaw pullers that erring officials will be suspended.

Following the assurance, the tense situation subsided and normalcy returned.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, councillor Joykumar informed that an enquiry will be instituted into the matter and erring officials will be suspended once the enquiry is completed.

On the other hand, the rickshaw pullers' association noted that issuing the same registration numbers to different rickshaws has been causing various problems to the public as well as to rickshaw pullers.

Following detection of rickshaws with identical numbers, the association is checking for such identical numbers at all the 56 rickshaw parkings located in Imphal (E) and Imphal (W).

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