Manipur People's Party extends monetary aid to injured Jessami villager

IMPHAL: The opposition, Manipur People's Party (MPP) has extended monetary aid to the volunteer of the Village Defence Force (VDF) who was beaten up by Nagaland villagers over boundary dispute. The injured VDF personnel, NI Zovi Wezah (30) is undergoing treatment at the Shija Hospital here.

A large number of men from Melourie village along with the armed village guards of the neighbouring state intruded Jessami village in Ukhrul district here and abducted six villagers including the VDF volunteer on Wednesday morning, resurfacing the prolonged border land dispute. Following intervention of the state authorities, the villagers were freed late at night, but Wezah was severely assaulted by the abductors.

Led by MPP president-in-charge S Umananda, the party's delegation, while providing the required money to injured Wezah on Sunday afternoon, strongly condemned the act perpetrated by the villagers from neighbouring Nagaland. They demanded the government to deploy adequate security forces in the boundary areas so that such incidents do not occur in the future.

Congress legislator Preshow Shimray, who won from Chingai constituency that covers Jessami village, said the villagers were beaten up by about 400 villagers from Melourie village. However, he added that the incident occurred due to the protracted boundary land dispute. He urged the Centre to deploy a company of the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) or Manipur Rifles (MR) in the area.