GUWAHATI: Ever since violence erupted in Manipur on May 3, the supply route to the Imphal Valley, via National Highway 2 of the state, was completely cut off, due to road blockade at places like Kangpokpi.
Due to the consequences of fear amongst the transporters, the supply of all kinds of essential commodities to the Imphal Valley in Manipur had been totally stopped for about two weeks.
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The Imphal Valley in Manipur had to bear the brunt of severe shortages of essential commodities including fuel.
All the shops in Imphal town of Manipur were running dry as supplies were totally stopped for over 15 days.
On the other hand, vehicle owners were the worst sufferers with the petrol and diesel stocks drying up at the petrol depots.
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To get a couple of litres of fuel, one had to queue up for several hours.
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The Indian Army and Assam Rifles stepped in to assure protection to all the vehicles carrying essential items from Guwahati to the Imphal Valley in Manipur via National Highway 2.
On Monday, a convoy of 28 vehicles, including trucks, oil tankers, and dumpers carrying rice, sugar and pulses moved under the escort of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Manipur police from Noney to Imphal.
Prophylactic domination of the entire area was provided by the Assam Rifles to ensure safe passage of the convoy which reached Imphal safely by noon.
In addition to it, monitoring of the entire supply route was done by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
Witnessing the desire for peace, which visibly manifested in an incident free movement of the vehicles, another convoy of around 100 vehicles moved consecutively on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Though the overall situation in Manipur is peaceful under the tight vigil of the Indian Army and the Assam Rifles, with no major report of any incident has been reported in the past couple of days.
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However, on Wednesday evening, an Indian Army Patrol team, operating along the foothills of Imphal East district, recovered explosives and Remote Initiation Mechanism for Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Bungbal Khullen village in Manipur.
Moreover, three kilograms of Trinitrotoluene, more commonly known as TNT, 15 electric detonators, four circuits and remote firing devices, were also recovered.
The alertness and prompt action by the Indian Army Patrol team thus averted a major disaster which would have turned into another major tragedy.