GUWAHATI (India): Separatist rebels in India’s northeastern Manipur state have widened their extortion racket to state-run banks and schools in a sign of their growing boldness as they try to tighten their grip on the region.

The rebels have been imposing taxes on people, government employees and businessmen since the 1960s, collecting millions of rupees to sustain their insurgency.

But their tactics have become more aggressive and frightening in recent months as they threaten their targets with bombings and murder.

More than half-a-dozen major guerilla groups are fighting over 50,000 Indian troops in the state.

This week, rebels sent a note demanding one million rupees to the state-owned United Bank of India (UBI), threatening to kill bank employees and bomb the bank’s branches if it did not pay.

“Our lives are in danger. They have threatened us individually if the money is not paid,” M. Chandrashekhar Singh, one of the senior executives of the bank, said by phone from Imphal, Manipur’s capital.

He said the rebels have sent a fax threatening to bomb his branch if the demand was not met.

More than a hundred employees of the bank have stayed away from 14 branches across the state, forcing their closure.

The UBI is one of the two leading banks in the state that handle all government funds and transactions, besides accounts of hundreds of individuals. The other one is the State Bank of India. No private banks operate in the state.

“The state government is helpless and a silent observer,” a senior regional intelligence officer, who asked for anonymity citing government protocol, said.

More than 20,000 people have died in the rebellion in Manipur, which is one of seven states in the country’s northeast. The region is home to more than 200 tribes and ethnic groups and is racked by separatist insurgencies.

Much of the funds raised by rebel groups go towards buying weapons and feeding and housing militants. But the groups also run basic primary schools and health clinics on a small scale, especially in more remote parts of the state.

Frightened students have deserted their hostels this week after the authorities of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, a government-run school, received a similar extortion demand from another armed group on Monday.

“How can we send them back to school in this situation?” asked Memcha Devi, a mother of two children.—Reuters