Last week Chitra Ahanthem ran out of sugar. But after visiting several shops around Imphal she realised there was no sugar available in the market. Most of her neighbours had stocked up. As the Sadar Hills District Committee's economic blockade enters its 61st day today, Ahanthem is just one of the thousands of residents in the Manipuri capital who are making major lifestyle changes.

"And I don't even belong to the economically weaker sections who have been hit the hardest by this blockade. This isn't the first time there has been a blockade in Manipur, it is, however, the longest. I fear it won't be the last either,"says Ahanthem who hasn't taken her car out for days as she can no longer afford the petrol.

Petrol costs Rs 140 per litre during the day and is sold at Rs 200 in the night. Apart from the petrol pumps, little shacks tucked into corners of overcongested markets and stretches of roads surreptitiously sell petrol. It's the same with gas cylinders —being sold at Rs 1,000 at the beginning of the month, the going rate for one cylinder is now Rs 2,000. There is no butter, no milk and all other commodities are being sold at prices marked up anywhere between 10-20 per cent. Rice, despite being locally grown, is being sold at anything between Rs 40-70 a kg.

Despite crippling life in Imphal, the economic blockade on National Highway 39 (Imphal-Dimapur) shows no sign of resolution. Instead, residents of Jiribam are now demanding a separate district and have put smaller pickets up on NH 37 (Imphal-Jiribam) tightening the noose around the valley. The police recently stepped up security on the highways and has now deployed commandos in the affected areas even as counter-economic blockades in Naga-dominated areas threaten to take off.

"The issue is complex which is why its taking the government so long to take a stand. The Kuki tribe which is the dominant tribe in the Sadar hills is demanding a separate district for administrative reasons. They feel that they have been neglected and for even something as simple as a birth or death certificate they have to travel 100 km to the district headquarters in Senapati district which is a Naga-dominated area. The Naga tribe in the state is opposing the move to create a separate Sadar Hills district as they feel that this land belongs to them. So whichever stand the government takes, it will be displeasing one tribe or the other,"says a senior government official.

But the government cannot ignore the "legitimate Kuki demand," says Ngamkhohao Haokip, president of the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee and the man behind the economic blockade in the state.