Imphal, March 19: Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, who is also in charge of Home has informed the Assembly today that an inquiry has been instituted to find out if there was any lapses on the part of the Commander in connection with the ambush laid by armed militants at Khoirok Chiru Lamkhai along Old Cachar Road which killed 16 jawans of the Ist IRB while they were returning from Khoupum after the election duty on February 24 last.

Senior member and leader of the MPP Legislature Wing O Joy and MLA RK Anand drew the attention of the Home Minister into the incident of killing 16 IRB personnel including one Jamandar in the ambush laid by unidentified armed persons at Khoirok Chiru Lamkhai along Imphal-Khoupum Road which is also known as Tongjei Maril on February 24 while the security personnel were returning from duty of the third and final phase of the election to the 9th Manipur Legislative Assembly.

Joy remarked that of all the incident of ambushes laid in Manipur, the Tongjei Maril incident of killing 16 jawans was the most spin-chilling.

Joy demanded to know why the security convoy had taken that particular route despite knowing that the area is being dominated by undergrounds.

This has risen the question as to whether there was some security lapses thereby leading to the unfortunate incident, Joy said.

RK Anand wanted to know whether Army Post located not far off from the ambush site had conducted ROP duty before the occurrence on the incident or on the alleged failure of the Intelligence services.

He also demanded to know what the Government has done for the surviving family members of the slain jawans.

In response to the call attention motion, Chief Minister said the ambush laid on the security personnel who were returning from their duty was one of the rarest cases and the State Government strongly condemned such attack as an act of cowardice.

The Chief Minister explained that the security convoy had taken that route as there is no other alternative connecting route between Imphal and Khoupum.

The Home Department had provided bullet proof jackets, helmets, and other protective items to all the security personnel before they were send for the election duty.

However, whether they presumed nothing would happen since many personnel were going together in six vehicles or it was due to sheer negligence, all the said protective equipments were recovered from one vehicle.

If they had used the bullet proof jackets and hamlets, then all of them might not have been killed, the Chief Minister observed.

The Chief Minister also disclosed that the jawans have not been send on election duty directly but to assist in maintenance of law and order condition.

So to find out if there was any lapses on the part of the Commander who had led the jawans, an inquiry has been instituted and it is already underway.

The Chief Minister further informed the House that on top of giving Rs 2 lakhs as ex-gratia to next of kin of the slain jawans, the State Government has decided to waive the loan amount if any of them taken any.

Over and above this, the Government has also taken a decision to the effect of continuing payment of the monthly salary enjoyed by each of these slain jawans to their surviving family members until date of retirement and issuance of pension besides providing a suitable job under the die-in-harness scheme.

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