Shillong, May 9: Meghalaya government has successfully carried out the evacuation of 242 of its citizens, who were stranded in Manipur, over a period of 5 days.
Of 242 citizens, 168 were students of RIMS, 37 – CAU, 7 – Manipur University, 4 – National Sports University, besides relatives of students who happened to be present in that state when the violence broke out.
According to Health Minister and government spokesperson, Ampareen Lyngdoh, the evacuation process was voluntary, and citizens were given the option to register for it.
“We engaged very actively with the army and paramilitary forces of the state of Manipur. We are very grateful that they came forward quickly to assist our students who were feeling the pressure and were under great stress,” the minister added.
Lyngdoh further informed that even a former judge was also rescued during the operation and said, “Even he also reached out to the government of Meghalaya. As far as my knowledge goes out likely he was also rescued but again I need to verify whether that happen but yes we had callings from all kinds of citizens and we must thank the CM as he played an exceptionally positive role in this period when there was a big threat for citizens who were in an unfortunate situation which occurred before us.”
She said that the state did get a special flight from the Government of India on May 5 where 67 students were evacuated. On May 6, the government collaborated with commercial airlines and ensured that tickets were booked on behalf of the citizens because they could not book the tickets themselves because of the internet ban.
Thanking the army, the minister said, “Without the army, this would have been very difficult as sometimes we found citizens stranded in distant places, where there was active violence around them. We are happy that the army went all out to assist us. They need to be thanked as they have taken special care. We are also grateful to the officials of the government of Meghalaya.”
Lyngdoh further thanked the NPP volunteers in Manipur and said, “We are very grateful to the NPP volunteers who made sure that our people did not starve nor our people did not get food or people were under stress. Therefore, the NPP chapter of Manipur also came forward in a very big way. We are very grateful to our volunteers.”
When asked, the minister informed that the government had to pay between Rs 5000 to Rs 8000 for each flight ticket.
She stated that the process began on May 5 and was completed on Tuesday. The last batch of Meghalaya citizens from Manipur arrived on Tuesday.
