A human induced landslide resulting from excavation work that was carried out using a JCB along the Imphal-Jiribam National Highway-37 in Noney district claimed the life of a four-year-old minor while two other minors sustained injuries on Saturday at around 12.45 pm.
The minor boy, Rigunguang Phaomei, 4, son of Damchuilung Phaomei of Khongsang Village, under Khongsang Police Station of Noney district was buried alive in the debris by a sudden landslide that occurred near to Khongsang Police Station and his home along NH-37 (Imphal - Jiribam Road).
He was a KG student at JR Memorial Academy Khongsang. He could not be saved as it took almost 30 minutes to take him out of the debris.
The two injured are Thaithuilung Kamei, 11, son of Abraham Kamei and Ringkhuanlung Kamei, 7, son of Abraham Kamei both from Khongsang Village, Noney district.
As per reports from the scene near Khongsang Police Station, the NH 37 expansion works are being carried out by Krishna Construction Company Pvt.Limited (KCC), which has its head office in New Delhi.
According to the eye witness, the unfortunate incident occurred suddenly when four minor children were passing the road visiting their neighbour after coming back from school. The two injured children were rushed to Nungba CHC for first aid and luckily one boy escaped unharmed.
According to the villagers, the tragedy happened due to the negligence of the construction company (KCC) of not cutting the benching slope rather than cutting the slope of the loose soil.
The shocking incident could not have happened if the construction company was maintaining the slope benching cutting system. The double cutting of NH-37 in that area was undertaken by KCC Company under the supervision of NHIDCL.
Khongsang Police Station registered a case on the incident. ADM Noney and SDO Nungba came to the area on receiving information and spoke with eye witnesses and family members. Postmortem will be conducted on the body if an agreement can be brought in the talks with the family members and government authorities.
It may be recalled that sixty-one people died and 18 were injured after a massive landslide hit the construction site of Tupul Railway station on June 30 last year. The Tupul substation is situated in Manipur’s Noney district.
The railway project, which is part of the Act East policy through the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), aims to connect with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.
It can also be mentioned that the first landslide occurred at 12.30 am on June 30, and the second at 6 am. At least 79 people were affected, of which, 18 were rescued. Of the 61 people missing, 56 were recovered during a 21-day search.
Five people, including four civilians and one Territorial Army personnel were missing, and the search was called off on July 20, after chief minister N Biren Singh said it was decided to declare them dead. Thirty of the deceased were Territorial Army personnel, who were deployed to protect the construction site, while the rest were railway officials, labourers, and locals.
The disaster in the seismically-active western Manipur region is likely to have been caused by a combination of factors including excessive rainfall and long-term exposure of cut hill slopes for infrastructure expansion, debris blocking the flow of a river, and changing land use patterns such as deforestation.
It has prompted the railway authorities to look at monitoring mechanisms of cut hill slopes in sensitive areas and set up an early warning system. The state’s environment and climate change department has also suggested investigating links to climate change in the recent event.
