Driven out folks start returning to Serou
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 29 2023: With at least 917 displaced people returning home, life has slowly returned to Serou, which was left deserted for months amid the current ethnic tension between the Meiteis and Kukis.

Serou had around 370 Meitei households before May 3 with a population of around 3,400 .

On the intervening night of May 27 and 28, armed Kuki men and militants fired indiscriminately at the settlement and burnt more than 310 houses.

Some 60 houses are still standing today, unburnt.

The 917 survivors, men, women and children are staying in groups at the houses that have not been burnt.

Some are staying at makeshift huts built on the land where their houses once stood.

Some are staying at charred pucca houses.

Many of them are staying at a relief camp near Wangbren Temple.

Driven out folks start returning to Serou

The food for the 917 people is prepared at the relief camp.

Ima Nungthong Lairembi Relief Committee secretary Thongam Ingocha said he expects more people to start returning to Serou as the situation improves.

People have started to return, but most have no place to stay.

All their houses and properties have been burnt by the Kukis, he said.

The violence first began on May 3, but there was no violence in Serou in early May.

Kuki launched unprovoked attacks on the village on the intervening night of May 27 and 28, he said.

Bullets were flying all over.

People panicked and started fleeing for their lives.

People were scattered and they eventually took shelter at relief camps opened across several districts in the valley, he said.

People who have returned are lacking basic needs.

They don't have houses to stay in.

They don't have proper electricity, he said.

He said people started moving into Serou after security forces guaranteed their security.

Sugnu AC MLA K Ranjit led several officials of various Government Departments and conducted a survey in Serou from September 22 to 29 to assess the damages caused by the conflict.

Afterwards, the locals including the MLA met with security forces at Serou for confidence building measures.

After the security forces guaranteed security, people started returning, Ingocha said.

Army, at least three companies of BSF, Manipur police and India Reserved Battalion are stationed at Serou.

Ingocha said the local MLA has taken up efforts to erect electric poles at Serou for electricity.

Meanwhile, Ingocha said, the locals who have returned need work that pays.

Some are engaged in a stone crusher industry nearby, and some are engaged in river sand mining, he said.

Most importantly, it is harvesting time.

The paddy crops are ripe and the farmers need machines to harvest the crop, he said, appealing to the Agriculture Department to provide machinery.

He also urged the Government to release Rs 2-3 lakh of the compensation money initially for people to start building their houses at the earliest.

He also appealed to the Transport Department and bus owners to start passenger bus/vehicle services to and fro Serou.