Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today accused the Centre of suppressing the figure of the death toll in the Manipur violence. Expressing concern, she alleged that the death toll was “shooting up” with every passing moment.
To help deport civilians, particularly Bengalis, left stranded in the violence-hit Manipur, she announced the commissioning of a 24×7 control room to fasttrack the rescue effort.
Addressing a press conference at Nabanna this afternoon, Banerjee alleged that the way the Manipur violence was being handled and shoot-at-sight orders implemented, it raised considerable fears that the toll in army fire-fight would be much higher as the figures of the death toll continued to be unspecified as the Centre was not disclosing the figures and that ran the risk of the exact figures of the alleged death toll in violence being suppressed.
“Any incidents that happened in the state of West Bengal are found to be hyper active in sending central teams to tarnish the image of the state but in the case of Manipur, they are not disclosing figures. The Manipur problem is decades old, but in this case, it is man-made”, said Ms Banerjee.