Dimapur market
College students asking shops to close at Super Market in Dimapur on Wednesday. Image - Northeast Now

The Dimapur district bandh called by 17 Dimapur-based college students’ unions on Wednesday evoked little response.

All business establishments, except for a few, ran their businesses and vehicles plied as usual even as some college students were seen asking some shop owners in some pockets of the town to close their shutters.

Also read: ANCSU calls for Dimapur bandh, Dimapur Naga Students’ Union opposes

The 17 college student bodies called for the bandh in support of the All Nagaland College Students’ Union’s five-point charter of demands, including immediate resignation of the director of technical education, Arjun Singh, over alleged misappropriation of technical scholarship fund for 2014-16.

The Dimapur Naga Students’ Union and Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) opposed the bandh call.

The DCCI on Wednesday appreciated the business community for cooperating with its direction by opening their establishments despite the call for total shutdown of their businesses by the 17 students’ bodies.

It said a few student volunteers had tried to forcefully close down some shops in some pockets of the town.

However, there were no reports of any untoward incident, it said.

The DCCI said it is not against the students’ bodies and fully support their cause and would continue to so even in future too.

However, it said the business community cannot tolerate and bear the brunt of such “lightning bandh call” as there was no pre-information about it.

The trade body also questioned the student bodies why Dimapur is always “targeted” for bandh when all the head offices of departments are in Kohima.

Bhadra Gogoi is Northeast Now Correspondent in Nagaland. He can be reached at: [email protected]