Manipur Violence: Army's Enhanced Aerial Surveillance With UAVs And Helicopters Keeps Vigil

Manipur News: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Helicopters have been pressed into action for surveillance by Indian Army to significantly enhance the surveillance capability in the violence-hit state.

Guwahati: Over 100 columns of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles have been working tirelessly in the past 96 hours in order to significantly enhance the surveillance capability in Manipur while employment of aviation assets is being intensified. In particular, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Helicopters have been pressed into action for surveillance not only in the hinterland but also along Indo-Myanmar Border, the Army informed in a statement.

"The use of the third dimension is of utmost importance in modern military warfare. It gives the security forces a major edge to not only carry out effective surveillance of anti-national elements but also target elements that may harm important installations," the Army stated.

As per the force, the employment of these assets is giving a major fillip to the effectiveness of the Army and Assam Rifles. The success of this is evident on the ground in Manipur not only in the hinterland but also for domination of the Indo-Myanmar Border to prevent any misadventure attempt by Manipur Valley Based Insurgent Groups staying across in various camps, according to the Indian Army.

So far, 23,000 people have been rescued from the violence-hit areas and moved to military garrisons.

New Chief Secretary Appointed In Violence-Hit Manipur

In another important development, the Manipur government appointed Vineet Joshi as the new chief secretary of the state rocked by ethnic violence over the past few days,

According to an official order, Joshi, a 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Manipur cadre, replaced Rajesh Kumar.

Joshi was on central deputation, and serving as the additional secretary of the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education, news agency PTI reported.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the repatriation of Joshi to his parent cadre at the request of the Manipur government, a Personnel Ministry order dated May 6 said, as per PTI.

Violent clashes broke out in the northeastern state after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the 10 hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, leading to the deaths of at least 54 people.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 per cent of the population and live in the hill districts.