Drivers calls off strike, blockade continues in Manipur

The strike by the All Manipur Petroleum Tanker Drivers' Union (AMPTDU) was called off following release of the kidnapped driver even as a student union sponsored blockade on two national highways continued today.
Driver Surajit Singh, abducted by militants from Khujuma area in Nagaland while he was bringing petrol along with others to Imphal on April 22, was set free by its abductors last evening, a spokesman of AMPTDU told reporters this morning.
Drivers would start plying petrol tankers along with security personnel from today, he said.
Official sources said petrol pumps are closed since April 22 last and petrol was selling at Rs 110 per litre.

Singh was kidnapped by a militant organisation, which collected Rs 8000 to Rs 10000 per year from each oil tanker, when his employer did not pay the amount in time.
Meanwhile, Zeliangrong Students Union (ZSU) have been continuing its blockade on two national highways -- Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar and Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati-- since April 21 last demanding release of a girl student identified as Alice Kamei by an insurgent outfit Revolutionary People's Front (RPF).

RPF had earlier said that Alice had joined the organisation on her own.
Official sources said transport services between Manipur and neighbouring states remained suspended for the past few days because of the blockade.

The government was considering to provide security to vehicles but a decision was yet to be taken.
Prices of essential and other items brought to the state from other states had skyrocketed because of the blockade, the sources said.