SHILLONG, MAY 4: Meghalaya government on Thursday decided to make arrangements for evacuating more than 200 students from the state, who are studying in Manipur, following the violent incidents.
After chairing an emergent meeting held with senior government officials, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that the government is monitoring the situation in Manipur very closely.
“We are in touch with the students of the different institutes and we are also making arrangements as a state government to try and evacuate our students from there so that they can come back safely,†he said.
According to him, arrangements in terms of transportation, especially air transportation, are being made to quickly bring back students from Meghalaya, who are studying in Manipur.
Close to 200 students from Meghalaya are studying in Imphal.
Stating that the government is also creating a helpline number, the chief minister said, “Students and parents can call on a 24 hour basis if they require any help or if any urgent matter is there.â€
Urging the parents and students not to panic but to stay calm, Sangma said, “We are monitoring the situation continuously and we are in touch with the Manipur government continuously and we are taking all steps possible to immediately ensure that we are able to as quickly as possible evacuate and bring our students back to Meghalaya and as the situation gets under control then we can decide on the further course of action.â€
Meanwhile, the chief minister urged all citizens of the state of Manipur to maintain peace and harmony and refrain from violent activities and said, “I would like to appeal for peace and I would like to urge that whatever the complications may be there, we should try and resolve those matters in an amicable manner.â€
“I also would like to appeal that we should not do anything to hurt any religious sentiments that have different attacks on different religious institutions and different religious places – these are not very healthy for our society and this will only complicate matters more and hence I urge that we should refrain from any such activity and would like to appeal to all our friends, brothers and sisters in Manipur that we should try and ensure that peace prevails and all different situations and complications are resolved in an amicable manner,†he added.