Eight civil society organisations (CVO) of Manipur on Tuesday (June 5) drew the attention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to initiate thorough investigation into the landslide which claimed the lives of many innocent villagers and Territorial Army personel in Noney district of Manipur.
The eight CSOs included Justice Foundation Manipur, Youth Action Committee for Protection of Indigenous People, Young People for Social Reform, People Action for Social Change, United Women Rights Defender, Khangabok Development Students Union, Youth Forum for Protection of Human Rights and the Indigenous Women Forum Manipur.
They submitted a joint demand statement to the Director General of Police (DGP) and the state Home department to initiate an investigation against the Northeast Frontier Railway for the tragic incident.
They also demanded to monitor the investigation against the Northeast Frontier Railway for its negligence to comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights which led to the loss of precious lives of many; to hold NF Railway accountable for the damages caused due to its negligent work and to restore the destroyed environment and make the NF Railway compensate for all the loss caused due to its work.
The CSOs stated that on June 29, 2022, at around 11:30 pm , a massive landslide occurred at Marangching Part-V in Noney district of Manipur. The particular landslide occurred across the excavation of earth for the construction of the Railway line taken up by the North East Frontier Railway since 2013, covering a distance of 111 km from Jiribam to Imphal, they stated.
During the construction of the tunnels and railway track, large scale hills, villages, streams, etc., were destroyed leading to water scarcity in one of the villages, namely, Nungtek village of the district. During the excavation work many lineaments were left and also from the 6.7 magnitude earthquake which occurred in 2016, it stated.
Knowing the fact, the Northeast Frontier Railway failed to conduct proper Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) of the area. Instead, the NRF headed for the completion of the project without recognizing the rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the area, it stated.
As a result of their negligence, over 45 innocent lives were lost, 18 rescued out of 79 reported missing till the writing of the report, they stated. It is important to note that many of the armies and the civilians who lost their lives may have left behind their wife and children. The North East Frontier Railway must be held accountable for its negligence and the entire loss, not only the lives but also the environment, must be compensated by them, the CSOs stated.
Since the construction work was initiated by the Northeast Frontier Railway in the name of development, large-scale destruction was caused environmentally and socially by not respecting the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights which is very unfortunate and liability must be fixed for such destruction leading to the death of many lives, it added.
