Manipur Municipal Administration, Housing and Urban Development (MAHUD) and Town Planning Minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar strongly condemned the blast that rocked the capital city of Imphal on Monday evening.
A lady sweeper of the Imphal Municipal Corporation (IMC) identified as one Yenshembam Sobita Devi (50) and wife of Ingo from Langthabal Mantrikhong Awang Lekai suffered minor injury in the blast and was later admitted to the Raj Medicity.
Around 5.50 pm on Monday evening, a bomb suspected to be improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on the southern side road of the Johnstone Higher Secondary School in the heart of Imphal town.
Speaking to the media in Imphal, Minister Shyamkumar on Tuesday said planting and exploding the bomb at a public place is a cowardly act.
Urging those responsible for the explosion to come forward for clarification, the Minister made an appeal not to repeat such acts in the future which is ‘detrimental to the development of the State’.
To ensure the safety of the public, he said additional CCTV cameras working 24×7 will be installed across Imphal city by the MAHUD department in consultation with the Chief Minister.
He also ensured that the cameras will be installed within a short span of time.
He also said that the MAHUD department will bear all the medical expenses of the IMC sweeper who was injured in the blast while doing her duty along the Kangla road.
Later, the MAHUD Minister visited the injured IMC sweeper Sobita Devi at the Raj Medicity and handed over monetary aid to the victim.
Stating that the Department under him will work in collaboration with the state police, he appealed for cooperation from the general public.
He said it is unfortunate that the blasts took place at the time when the MAHUD department and IMC are whole heartedly working to make the city clean.
Ironically, no insurgent group operating in the State or any other party has claimed the responsibility for Monday’s incident till now.