The Hindu : National : Thoubal pharmacies close down, extortion continues

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Thoubal pharmacies close down, extortion continues

Iboyaima Laithangbam

“PREPAK demands Rs. 2 lakh annual tax from each of them”

Brick kiln, stone-crushing workers protest demand
Kill threat to RIMS Director, medical superintendent

IMPHAL: All pharmacies Manipur’s Thoubal district have closed down since Monday, not being able to pay tax as demanded by the outlawed underground People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK).

Their representatives earlier called on Chief Minister Okram Ibobi and complained that the PREPAK was demanding an annual payment of Rs. 2,00,000 from each pharmacy.

He told them that the government would beef up security in markets, but it was not possible to provide armed guards for every pharmacy, it is said.

In Imphal East district, brick kiln workers are taking out processions in protest against imposition of a tax on the owners by some militants. Last month, workers at stone-crushing factories in the Imphal West district launched a sit-in in protest against militants levying a tax on the units.

Teachers not spared

Students of a number of schools have also been taking out processions condemning the militants’ bid to extort money from their teachers.

Meanwhile, officials of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, a government of India undertaking in Imphal, have hinted at prolonged closure as a militant outfit allegedly threatened, on the phone, to kill Director L. Fimate and medical superintendent Y. Mohen within one month.

Both of them are getting armed guard protection. The government has also deployed 30 personnel of the Indian Reserve Battalion in the hospital complex.

On May 25, a powerful bomb exploded near the office of the Director, causing damage to buildings. The employees closed down the hospital for three days in protest.

In the past, doctors were kidnapped for ransom and one student was injured in gunfire.

A visitor from Tripura was also shot dead in the boys’ hostel.

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