By Saurabh Trivedi

New Delhi [India], March 13 (ANI): In a significant step towards restoring peace in Manipur, Imphal West has surrendered the highest number of weapons in response to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla's appeal to turn in looted illegal arms.

According to a senior officer, during the two-week deadline for surrender of arms and ammunition, a total of 990 arms were surrendered with 11,526 ammunition. Around 366 hand grenades, 230 bombs, and 10 Improvised Explosive Devices have been recovered between February 16 and March 6 in 11 districts.

The state has been plagued by ethnic violence since May 2023, and this development is seen as a positive move towards disarmament.

The highest number of arms were surrendered in Imphal West district, with 349 and 5,764 ammunition surrendered in Imphal East. In Imphal West, 115 grenades were surrendered, the highest in number, and one Improvised Explosive Device (IED) has been recovered.

The weapons and ammunition were surrendered in Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Jiribam, Kakching, Kangpokpi, Pherzwal, Tengnoupal and Tamenglong districts.

The officer said that the figure would go up as more and more people were coming to surrender the looted weapons. The weapons surrendered include handguns, machine guns, grenades, and INSAS and AK-56 rifles.

'We are in the process of identification of weapons and matching the details of arms that were looted,' the officer said.

Governor Bhalla on February 20 had initially set a seven-day deadline for the surrender of looted and illegal arms, which was later extended to March 6. The government is now in the process of identifying the surrendered weapons and matching them with the details of arms that were looted

He urged warring groups to surrender voluntarily weapons robbed from security forces and other illegally held arms and extended the deadline till 4 PM on March 6, following demands by people from both hill and valley areas for additional time.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday assured Parliament that the government will provide all necessary assistance to support Manipur's economic recovery. A supplementary demand for grants worth Rs 1,861 crore has been placed on the table to aid the state's rebuilding efforts.

'We are providing all the potential assistance to support a faster recovery of the (Manipur) economy. For Manipur, I (would) like to put for consideration for all members we will continuously support so that the recovery is faster,' she told Lok Sabha, responding to the discussion on Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2024-25, Demands for Additional Grants for the year 2021-22 and Budget of Manipur for the year 2025-26. (ANI)