Sanitising Loktak Lake After Hovercrafts it is now armed speed boats

IMPHAL, Feb 16 : After Hovercraft it is now armed speed boat to be utilised for flushing underground cadres from Loktak Lake and the surrounding areas. The decks have been cleared for the State police to be equipped with the state of the art armed speed boat used by the Coast Guard and the Army to flush out militants holed up in Loktak Lake and the surrounding areas. The new initiative has been taken up as sanitising Loktak Lake has become the top agenda of the State Government. Speaking to The Sangai Express a reliable source said that following a green signal from the Union Home Ministry the process of purchasing the speed boat has started to primarily flush out militants from Loktak Lake and the surrounding areas. Stating that a clear cut instruction was issued by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram during his recent visit to Imphal to take up all possible measures to rein in the militants, the source said that the State Government mooted the proposal of procuring the speed boats.During his visit here, the Union Home Minister was categorical in stating that extortions by militant groups need to be checked. To procure the speed boats, the State Government has despatched the SP of Bishnupur police K Jayenta and OC of Bishnupur police commando Sudhir to Kochi in Kerela to assess the speed boats, said the source. The speed boats will be assessed by the State police team as well as by personnel from the Coast Guard and the BSF, said the source and added that a minute study will be conducted to see whether the speed boat can be used on Loktak Lake. The State police team presently at Kochi along with officers from the Coast Guard and the BSF will also inspect three Hovercrafts. Each Hovercraft will have the capacity to seat 5 to 10 people. The source said that the decision to acquire the speed boats and the relatively smaller Hovercraft was taken because it will be more convenient at Loktak Lake. Towards acquiring the three Hovercrafts a meeting chaired by the Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and attended by the State Additional Chief Secretary DS Poonia, DGP Y Joykumar and officers from the Water Wing of the BSF and Coast Guard was held at Delhi last month. To flush out militants from Loktak Lake as well as to save it from further degradation, the State Govern- ment has already finalised the recruitment process of the Loktak Lake Protection Force. Moreover five sites have been identified to station the personnel.The State Cabinet had also earlier instructed the DGP to open a Special Cell to check the activities of militants.

Recruitment of Loktak Protection Force begins

IMPHAL, Jan 13 : Besides discussing the proposal of providing hovercrafts to Manipur police during a meeting at New Delhi with Union Home Secretary Ma-dhukar Gupta in the chair, recruitment of Loktak Lake Protection Force has been initiated.A reliable source informed The Sangai Express that three hovercrafts may be provided to Manipur Police for deployment in Loktak lake to flush out insurgents from the lake.The meeting held at New Delhi on January 9 was attended by Principal Secre-tary (Home) DS Poonia, DGP Y Joykumar, officials of BSF Water Wing, Coast Guard and Special Secretary Home, MHA.After the Union Home Ministry agreed on Manipur Police using hovercrafts, an official team of BSF and Coast Guard came to Imphal in October last year and assessed the practicality of deploying hovercrafts in Loktak lake.Later, the team recommended the Centre to procure hovercrafts with sitting capacity of 20.However, in the meeting held at New Delhi recently, the Union Secretary expressed intention of procuring hovercrafts with sitting capacity of 5 to 10 security personnel. He also suggested that the hover-crafts be placed at a common place for Manipur Police and BSF/Coast Guard.The meeting also agreed to invite willing suppliers for the hovercrafts.Under its police modernisation programme, the State Government has submitted a proposal of Rs 5 crores towards procuring three hovercrafts, conveyed the source.The Union Ministry has also agreed to purchase the hovercrafts after perusing applications from suppliers soon.On the other hand, recruitment process for 375 personnel of the Loktak Lake Protection Force who would use the hovercrafts have already commenced. More-over, five locations for setting up outposts of the Loktak Lake Protection Force have been identified. Personnel of the Loktak Lake Protection Force will be given training in Mani-pur first before sending them for further training outside the State. Moreover, special training will be given to those personnel who would handle hovercrafts along with necessary training for maintenance of hovercrafts, added the source.