Trinamool Congress team leaves for Manipur

Kolkata: A five-member fact-finding team of the Trinamool Congress left for Manipur on Wednesday to review the situation in the violence-hit state. Before leaving for Imphal, the team members expressed apprehension of non-cooperation from the local administration in Manipur preventing them from reaching the conflict-affected tribal areas. Former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Sushmita Dev said, “We will try to prepare a detailed report on the troubled areas of Manipur before the next session of Parliament. But we doubt whether we will be able to visit all the tribal areas where the violence broke out. “The local administration has not yet confirmed helicopter services for us. Without helicopter services, it would be extremely difficult to reach the remote tribal areas,” Dev said. He said that it is the responsibility of the local administration to provide security to the Trinamool Congress team in Manipur. “We have also contacted Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and sought his cooperation.” Besides Dev, the other members of the fact-finding team are Derek O’Brien, Dola Sen, Kalyan Banerjee and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. The decision to send the delegation to Manipur was taken by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on 10 July. The decision came about an hour after information emerged that the BJP has decided to send a four-member fact-finding team to West Bengal to review the large-scale violence related to the panchayat polls.