UNC blockade: Manipur journalists seek Centre's intervention

With the United Naga Council (UNC) continuing with its economic blockade, journalists from Manipur today expressed concern over the hardship faced by the people and sought the Centre's immediate intervention to get normalcy restored in the north-eastern state.
Led by its president Wangkhemcha Shamjai, a delegation of All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) met Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh and discussed the prevailing situation in the state with him.
They expressed concern over the hardship faced by the people of Manipur due to the ongoing economic blockade imposed on the state's national highways by the UNC.

Singh said he will give due consideration to the inputs received from them and would take up the same with the Ministry of Home Affairs and other agencies concerned.
Highlighting the issues affecting the functioning of the media in the state due to the blockade, the journalists in a memorandum said, "The media houses had been badly hit as a result of the UNC blockade, leading to an acute shortage of newsprint and other related material like printing plates etc."
They claimed that the movement of reporters has been hampered due to a shortage of fuel in the state.
They also sought financial assistance for constructing the Press Housing Colony in Imphal and for Press Information Bureau (PIB) accreditation to individual journalists.