Mail News Service UNA
\nImphal,\u00a0 Jan 14: As usual the drivers day 2013 was observed today in Manipur. Manipur drivers welfare assn. Tera Lukram Leirak Machin observed drivers day at Manipur Press Club.\u00a0 Angtha Tombi adhaksha Imphal east, Babudhon Shaikhuba president MDWA and Ito Tongbram\u00a0\u00a0 and Budha Luwang graced the occasion as chief guest, president and guests of honour. The theme of the year is healthy drivers for a wealthy state.
\nFloral tributes were paid to the photos of departed drivers of the state. The Manipur drivers welfare assn. honoured the families of the departed drivers by giving simple gifts.
\nAll modes of transport including passenger services remained totally paralyzed as drivers stayed off duty to\u00a0 take part in the\u00a0 observation which started in\u00a0 1990 and as a mark of respect to their colleagues who served the people day and night and sacrificed their lives\u00a0 .
\nThe day has been observed by various bodies of the commercial vehicle drivers at different places to pay respect to the drivers who lost their lives while performing their duties. Floral tributes were paid to the photographs of the drivers who lose their life while discharging their duties.
\n\u201cWe are observing the day each year with a demand for a place for us in the society,\u201d the general secretary of a drivers union Kunamani Singh said in a function organised by Manipur Road Transport Drivers\u2019 and Motor Workers\u2019 Union.
\nHe said that as a result of their long struggle the view of the security personnel, police personnel, excise, etc. towards them had changed to a great extent.
\n\u201cNow the people of the state know the value of drivers but we still need unity to fight for our rights,\u201d he observed.
\nSpeaking at a function organized by the Manipur Drivers\u2019 Welfare Association at Manipur Press Club, All president of the Manipur Interstate Bus Association Budha Luwang alleged that militant groups including those engaged in peace talk were extorting money from the vehicles plying on the national highways in Manipur.
\nWhen protested to provide money drivers were harassed and sometimes killed.
\nJanuary 14 has been observed as Drivers Day in Manipur since 1990 commemorating the day thousands of drivers staged a continuous 7-day protest at the old airfield ,t Koirengei along the NH-39 against the excessive harassment received by them from the security personnel, police and armed miscreants, the bad condition of highways and the problems faced by the drivers while passing through Nagaland and also against the lowering of the status of drivers in the society.
\nThe day became\u00a0 meaningful when around 200 transport vehicles servicing in the state took out a rally in Imphal city in June 1994 in protest against the brutal killing of one handyman named Naorem Tarun Singh of Kakching by unknown armed miscreants at Jubja in Nagaland.
\nFollowing the rally around 1000 transport vehicles gathered at Koirengei airfield and staged a protest for nine days which strengthened the unity of the drivers of the state.
\nThe All Manipur Petroleum Tankers Drivers Union also observed the day with a function held at Sangakpham Bazar where tributes were paid to deceased drivers and other transport workers and veteran drivers honoured.<\/p>\n\n