Manipur Police commandos may return to highway patrol duty to tackle extortion
Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam says the government is considering restoring police commandos for highway patrol duty to reduce extortion on NH-2 and NH-37
Manipur Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam on Sunday said the government is considering redeploying state police commandos on national highways passing through the state to curb extortion.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme, Konthoujam said state police commandos were earlier deployed on highways for Road Opening Patrol (ROP) duty.
"Earlier, state police commandos used to be deployed on the highways for ROP duty. We are trying to deploy them. However, there is a lack of manpower in the state forces," he said.
"We are discussing how to restore the commandos for ROP duty. If we deploy them, the level of extortion on the highways will decrease," the minister added.
His remarks come amid rising incidents of extortion targeting essential goods and fuel convoys on the state's two key highways -- NH-37, linking Imphal and Silchar, and NH-2, connecting Imphal with Dimapur.
