Noney villagers bring veggies to IDPs, show solidarity

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Dec 6: Conve-ying an unmistakable mes- sage of solidarity and one-ness, villagers of Ijeirong and Haochong, Noney district today brought a substantial quantity of vegetables from their own farms to IDPs.
Presenting the vegetables to IDPs at Lamboi Khong-nangkhong where IDPs, Meira Paibis and people from different parts of the State have been staging a sit-in-protest, Ijeirong village chairman Sirei Barimtak said that village elders held a meeting and decided to help the IDPs who have been enduring extreme misery on account of the unfortunate violent crisis which erupted on May 3, 2023 with whatever vegetables grown in the village.
“The vegetables we brought today are not much but we pray that this expression of solidarity may strengthen the hill-valley bond. We are bringing the vegetables for the IDPs with a sincere belief that the hill people and the plain people are one”, the Ijeirong village chairman said.
When hill people faced hardships, plain people came to their aid. Likewise, when plain people faced hardships, hill people helped them, he said.
COCOMI convenor Khuraijam Athouba said that the rally sit-in-protest being staged by IDPs, COCOMI, Meira Paibis and people from different parts of Manipur has completed six days today.
Now there are only 25 days for the Government to fulfil its promise of resettling the IDPs, he said.
“We are extremely grateful to the people of Ijeirong and Haochong villages for the truck load of vegetables they brought for the IDPs and their conviction that hill people and plain people are brothers, and they must help each other”, Athouba said. Such a gesture will definitely deepen the bond of fraternity and oneness shared among the indigenous communities of Manipur, he said.
Plain people went to Tamenglong when a disastrous landslide struck the district, and helped the affected villagers.
“Now when the plain people are facing extreme misery, hill people are coming with help and a strong message of solidarity. Such gestures indicate that the hill people and plain people will always remain as one and inter-dependent”, he said.
The COCOMI convenor said they will make sure that the vegetables brought today by the villagers of Ijeirong and Haochong reach each and every IDP, however small the quantity may be.
The COCOMI, on behalf of the people of Manipur, conveyed gratitude to the Ijeirong village chairman and all village pastors for such a noble initiative.
Churachandpur United Committee convenor Moirangthem Baleshore too expressed gratitude to the villagers of Ijeirong and Haochong for coming to the aid of IDPs with vegetables grown in their own villages. He also called upon  all the hill people and plain people to work collectively towards further strengthening the blood relationship.