Manipur IDPs refuse to move to pre-fabricated houses built by Government

Their reasons include meager size of the newly-built houses, difficult terrain, militancy fears among others

The Manipur government’s efforts to provide shelter to Internally Displaced People (IDP) of the state have met with stiff resistance. The IDPs rendered homeless because of the recent violence that hit the state since May 4, are refusing to relocate to the newly built pre-fabricated houses citing reasons such as meager size of the newly-built houses, difficult terrain, and fears of militancy.

The displaced people staying at the Wangjing Kodompokpi Sport Complex spoke exclusively to Northeast Live and said,“We are people from Moreh who has been forced to leave our homes and have been staying in this relief camp for 7 months now. Our homes have been burnt to a crisp back there. We will not stay in the government-built houses because how can we go and live in the jungle? The houses have very small rooms and that too in the jungle, if we go to stay there again the militants will come to finish us off. We want you to report to the government to rebuild our houses in Moreh soon so that we can return there at the earliest.”

Another displaced person said, “We don’t want to move to a new area as we don’t understand what to do there since we don’t have any money or jobs. We only want to move back to Moreh.”

An elderly woman said, “I don’t want to go there, I want my own house. The government should make arrangements for our safe return. We just want to go back home as we don’t feel safe anywhere else.”
Fearing the distance of the new houses from highways, another resident said that if they move there they will be easy prey for armed miscreants.

The Manipur violence which has been continuing for more than 7 months now, has forced a large number of people to flee their homes for their own safety. Close to 70,000 people have been displaced because of the unrest. The government has built pre-fabricated houses for shelter of the displaced people but because of the myriad of reasons mentioned above the IDPs are not keen to return.

WATCH ALSO: Manipur: IDPs reluctant to shift to pre-fabricated houses

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