BSF, CRPF deployment in strife-hit Manipur raised

Around 400 additional personnel of the Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force have been airlifted to Manipur in the past three days, officials said, even as the state government is repurposing the Churachandpur campus of the BSF as a temporary prison as the two regular jails are nearing capacity in the northeastern state that has seen ethnic violence since May.

- Prawesh Lama

The work to prepare the temporary jail started on Sunday, a day after the state government declared the premises of the BSF's subsidiary training centre in Churachandpur as a temporary prison under the Prisoner's Act,1984.

The development is significant in the backdrop of chief minister N Biren Singh's appeal the public on September 22, urging them return looted arms within 15 days, after which central and state forces would launch a drive to recover them.

Of the 5,668 weapons and nearly 600,000 rounds of ammunition looted from government armouries in May and June, police have recovered only 1,329 weapons and around 14,000 munitions.

The government was willing to take a considerate view on those who submitted the weapons within 15 days, Singh said on Saturday.