Residents of Marangching and Pongrinlong villages in Manipur have called for an indefinite shutdown of railway construction works in the jurisdiction of Marangching village in Noney district from February 20 midnight, as a mark of protest against the failure of authorities concerned to uphold the MoU signed between the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), the Manipur government and villagers of Marangching and Pongrinlong village on July 20, 2022.
In a memorandum submitted to the Manipur chief minister and the Union railway minister on Monday, village authorities of Marangching and Pongrinlong (Puangringluang) asserted that authorities concerned failed to uphold the nine-point MoU signed between the Manipur government, the NFR Railway and affected villagers of Marangching landslide on July 20, 2022.
The memorandum highlighted that the village authority of Marangching and Charoi Pandongba village on October 31, 2022 had submitted an additional memorandum to the state government and NFR railway to implement the nine-point MoU with little success.
As such, the village authority on December 7, 2022 sent a reminder letter to the state government and the NFR authorities with an ultimatum to halt railway works from December 7, 2022 in the jurisdiction of the two villages.
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It further mentioned that a shutdown was imposed from January 2, 2023 but was lifted on January 11 following the intervention by the deputy commissioner of Noney district. The shutdown resumed from midnight January 17 following a deadlock over the issue, the memorandum added.
The memorandum pointed out that village authorities of both villages on January 30, 2023 met with representatives of the state government and NFR at Hill Areas Committee (HAC), Manipur to reiterate their demands and relax the indefinite shutdown. It lamented that authorities concerned till now had not initiated any measures to deliver their demands.
As such, the memorandum signed by the chairman of Marangching Village Authority, Lanranglung Gondaimei, and members of Pongrinlong Village Authority, Albert Gangmei and Jonathan Malangmei, demanded authorities concerned to compensate and rehabilitate all the villagers whose land and farm had been affected by the Marangching landslide in Makhuam and Charoi Pangdongba villages.
The memorandum also demanded authorities concerned to uphold the nine-point MoU agreement of July 20, 2022 and ensure justice to the victims of the Marangching landslide.
The memorandum lambasted NFR for their lack of accountability in the incident and failing to carry out necessary environmental assessment of the region.
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