Mamata Banerjee on Monday said the Bengal government had received 185 distress calls from Manipur and 25 people could be rescued from the troubled state.

"Manipur is burning. The death toll is not being divulged... We are running a 24×7 helpline where we have received 185 distress calls. A total of 25 people have been rescued from the state so far," said the Bengal chief minister.

The chief minister said out of these 25 people rescued, 18 were students of the Central Agriculture University, Imphal.

The chief minister also said 68 more students from the state were stuck in various educational institutes in Manipur.

"We are in touch with the Manipur government as well as the Indian Army. We are following each stress call that is being received. We are requesting the authorities concerned to give safe passage to those who are stuck in troubled areas and could not reach the airport," Mamata said.

The chief minister explained why she was worried about those stuck in remote areas.

"People who are stuck in troubled areas are facing problems reaching the airport due to the shoot at sight order. We are in touch with the Manipur government. They should be given free passage to the airport," she said.

The chief minister also said the Bengal government was shouldering all expenses of persons rescued from Manipur, similar to what it did when Bengal residents got stuck in Ukraine more than a year ago.

The Bengal government has arranged the onward journeys to homes of the rescued, she said, adding it was arranging transit accommodation for people from other states too who were reaching Calcutta from Manipur.

“A total of 140 people from Andhra Pradesh, 30 people from Rajasthan and 26 people from Telangana have been given transit accommodation in Calcutta by the Bengal government.... I request the concerned states to arrange their homebound journey,” she said.

Mamata criticised the BJP-led Centre for failing to handle the situation in Manipur.

“If anything happens in Bengal, a number of teams are sent. How many central teams have been sent to Manipur?” she asked.

She expressed concern on the northeastern states getting volatile in the past couple of years.

Replying to a question about Union home minister Amit Shah busy campaigning in Karnataka, Mamata said: “Election is not important, but blood is.”