“Repeated landslide at T Vaichong, IT Road, Kangpokpi District….! Please Stop Deforestation Please Stop Poppy Plantation, Please Stop Deforestation otherwise such landslides will continue all over the state,” CM Biren Singh posted on his Facebook.
TFM Kangpokpi Representative
When people of the Twilang area comprising more than 70 to 80 villages are tirelessly combating the raging COVID-19 pandemic, nature has added more grievous hardships to their already crumbling situation in the form of a massive mudslide.
People of the Twilang area, especially residents of Tujang Waichong and Selsi village in Kangpokpi district, woke up on Monday morning only to be welcomed by a massive mudslide that reportedly submerged around 30 hectares of their paddy field completely shattering their hope of survival during this hard time of the pandemic.
The massive mudslide that occurred at Lamlenkon in Tujang Vaichong jurisdiction in between Selsi village along the state’s oldest highway Imphal-Tamenglong road, commonly known as IT Road, and it also submerged more than 300 metres stretch of the road completely disrupting the movement of all types of vehicles.
The place of the incident is about 37kms away from the District Headquarters of Kangpokpi district.
KSO Twilang block president, Enock Kipgen immediately sent out an SOS message via social media seeking immediate attention and swift action on the part of the authority concerned in the morning from the spot with visuals of the massive mudslide and its devastating impact.
While many have extended prayer and solace, the state’s chief minister N Biren Singh on his Facebook post alleged the people of the Twilang area for the natural disaster.
CM Biren Singh posted on his Facebook, “Repeated landslide at T Vaichong, IT Road, Kangpokpi District….! Please Stop Deforestation Please Stop Poppy Plantation, Please Stop Deforestation otherwise such landslides will continue all over the state”.
The chief minister’s Facebook post invited massive condemnation on the social media platform right after it went viral and people of the Twilang area also expressed disappointment over the chief minister’s statement stating that how come a responsible state chief minister instead of initiating immediate remedial measures sent out such irresponsible statement over the grievances and hardships of the people.
Mentioned may be made that Imphal-Tamenglong road construction was completed merely a few years back but owing to its substandard quality and absence of proper drainage and retaining wall, the road has returned to the same previous deplorable condition.
Enock Kipgen said that a massive mudslide occurred this early morning at around 3:30 am at Lamlenkon in Tujang Vaichong Sub Divisional Headquarters jurisdiction owing to incessant heavy rainfall last night.
He continued that apart from around 30 hectares of paddy field belonging to 22 farmers, more than 300 metres of the state’s oldest highway had been submerged by the mudslide while it had also disrupted the movement of vehicles.
He maintained that people of the Twilang area under the IT Joint Task Force on COVID-19 have been bravely and tirelessly fighting the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic since the first wave despite shortages of infrastructures, deplorable road conditions, and various other grievances owing to the absence of proper governance.
He recalled that people of the Twilang area apart from combating the pandemic worked very hard in their respective paddy fields as they solely depend on it with high expectations of garnering sufficient food grains since no business could no longer take place owing to the pandemic.
However, the affected farmers whose paddy fields were destroyed completely beyond repair this morning by the devastating massive mudslide are most likely to suffer extremely from food shortages next year, he added.
He further said that no government officials or representatives, even SDO Tujang Vaichong and officials from the District Administration Kangpokpi or concerned department visited and inspected the site so far.
He said that it was with the initiative of the Joint Monitoring Development Committee IT Road tying up with MLA of Kangpokpi AC, Nemcha Kipgen, Tadubi AC MLA Kayasii apart from forest minister Awangbow Newmai, some portion of the road submerged by the mudslide with debris were cleared on Monday. With one excavator sent by 4th Bihar Regiment Tamei Battalion on request and another local excavator of Makui were engaged in clearing the debris, he added.
He continued, “we will continue to work on clearing the road tomorrow and if it continues to rain this evening anything worse than this morning could happen again”.
Expressing discontentment and clarifying over the alleged ‘irresponsible statement’ of chief minister N Biren Singh on his Facebook post, Enock Kipgen said that the chief minister’s statement was very unfortunate and not expected while adding that natural disaster can occur anytime and at any places and we don’t expect such response from our chief minister rather we need immediate attention of the government to clear the debris and address the grievances of the poor farmers in particular and the people of Twilang area at the earliest.
He maintained that the people of the Twilang area are vehemently against deforestation and poppy plantation while adding that we never encourage such practice in the area.
The KSO Twilang Block president urged all authorities concerned and the state government to immediately swung into action to address the grievances of the people, especially the affected farmers and also initiate immediate remedial measures to clear the debris of the mudslide at the earliest.Attachments area