Central agri varsity incidents: Manipur Dy CM orders inquiry

IMPHAL, August 4: Following the announcement of an inquiry into the Central Agriculture University (CAU) incidents by the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, Leishangthem Chandramani Singh, the situation in the university campus has totally calmed down. It may be noted that a total of 96 students from Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh,Tripura and Mizoram had tried to run away from the Irishemba Agriculture University hostels packing all their belongings on August 2 morning. The Deputy Chief Minister, who is the Chief Minister-in-charge, said that certain developments had come up regarding the incident and an investigation was being carried out to ascertain the veracity of the reports. The state government is looking into what it can do as the issue concerns a Central University. All kinds of measures, including provision of security personnel, will be taken up to ensure a peaceful academic atmosphere, the Deputy Chief Minister said. A high-level meeting was also held on Thursday morning a the Chief Minister's bungalow before Chief Minister Nipamacha Singh's departure to Guwahati, in which the CM, the Deputy CM and the Vice-Chancellor of the University SS Bhagel discussed he issue. Besides, high-ranking security officers have been rushed to the university campus to take stock of the situation over there after the incident. The state Agriculture Minister Ashangbam Biren Singh has also visited the CAU campus and discussed the ongoing problems with the university authorities. The Agriculture Minister also held talks with the Vice-Chancellor, Dean, teaching staff and the students of the university during his visit this morning. However, till filing of this report, the details of the discussion were not available to the Press. When this reporter visited the CAU campus, the situation there was normal with no untoward incidents occurring today. In the meantime, reliable sources said that the situation in Shillong, slightly became tense following the August 2 incident at Imphal. Reports say the residents of Shillong have contemplated strike-back against the Manipuri students staying there. It is also learnt that the president of the Khasi Students Union Paul Lyngdoh has apprised the matter to Meghalaya Home Minister T Rangad. However, the Meghalaya Home Minister has reportedly told the Khasi student leader that everything has calmed down, a source from Shillong said here today. The source further informed that the Khasi Students Union had warned the unit of Meghalaya Manipur Students Union that if the Meghalaya students in Manipur were thrown out of the CAU, the same would be done to the Manipuri students studying in Shillong. So far no details have been received in this regard from any sources. It is reliably learnt that the intelligence wing of the Meghalaya government and the mediapersons based in Shillong have also enquired about the prevailing situation through their counterparts over telephones. Meanwhile, the College of Agriculture Students Union (CASU) has dismissed the allegations that the outside students tried to flee because of continuous harassment and threat to their lives by the local students as baseless. In this regard the general ecretary of the studnts union A Tarajit submitted a staement to the Deputy Chief Minister yesterday. According to the statement, the relations between the local students and outside students have always been cordial. The union, however, admitted that there were some instances where a few students of other states were questioned for their immoral acts inside the university campus. Expressing a suspicion that an instigation could be behind the August 2 incident, Tarajit said 90 per cent of the students who left their hostels had not acted consciously but they were rather compelled by a few masterminds with ulterior motives to exaggerate the whole situation.