More than 2,000 people from Manipur have fled to neighbouring Mizoram and sought shelter in the state following ethnic violence, a senior official said on Monday. State Home Commissioner and Secretary H Lalengmawia said that a total of 2,056 internally displaced people from Manipur have entered Mizoram and taken refuge in different parts of the northeastern state till Monday evening.
The senior official said that most of the people who have come from Manipur belong to the ethnic Zo (Mizo) community and they have been given shelter by their relatives. The government is also making efforts to provide those people with temporary shelters.
Saitual district, which shares border with Manipur, has the highest number of such people at 827, followed by Kolasib district at 757, he said. Besides, 402 people have reached Aizawl district, and 59 others have taken shelter in East Mizoram's Champhai district near the Myanmar border. Serchhip and Khawzawl districts have four and seven people respectively from Manipur.
According to Lalengmawia, 86 more state residents who were stranded in Imphal have been evacuated on Monday. While 34 people arrived in Aizawl by bus after they landed at Guwahati airport on Sunday, the remaining 52 were brought here from Imphal via Kolkata, he said.
On Tuesday, 29 more people will be flown to Guwahati, from where they will be picked up by bus, he said. The senior official also said that the government is making efforts to evacuate the remaining 68 state's residents, who are still stranded in the neighbouring state.
