Source: The Sangai Express
Kangpokpi, August 02 2021: When people of the Twilang area comprising of more than 70/80 villages are tirelessly combating the pandemic, nature has added more hardships in the form of a massive mudslide.
People of Twilang area especially residents of Tujang Waichong and Selsi village in Kangpokpi district woke up this morning to a massive mudslide that reportedly submerged around 30 hectares of their paddy fields 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 Imphal-Tamenglong road, commonly known as IT Road also submerged more than 300 metres of the road completely disrupting movement of all types of vehicles.
The place of the incident is about 37 kms away from Kangpokpi district headquarters.
KSO Twilang block president, Enock Kipgen immediately sent an SOS message via social media seeking immediate attention and swift action in the morning from the spot with visuals of the massive mudslide and its devastating impact.
While many extended prayer and solace, the State Chief Minister posted on 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 post invited condemnations on social media right after it went viral and people of Twilang area also expressed disappointment over the Chief Minister's statement stating how a responsible Chief Minister instead of initiating immediate remedial measures sent out such a statement adding to the grievances and hardships of the people.
Enock Kipgen, president KSO Twilang block said that a massive mudslide occurred early morning at around 3.30 at Lamlenkon in Tujang Vaichong Sub Divisional Headquarters following incessant heavy rain 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 Twilang area under the IT Joint Task Force on COVID-19 have been bravely and tirelessly fighting the pandemic since the first wave despite shortage of infrastructures, deplorable road conditions, and various other grievances.
He recalled that people of Twilang area apart from combating the pandemic worked very hard in their respective paddy fields as they solely depend on it expecting to reap sufficient food grains since no business is possible due to the pandemic.
However, the affected farmers whose paddy fields have been destroyed completely beyond repair are most likely to suffer the most from food shortage 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 department concerned have 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 MLA Kayasii apart from Forest Minister Awangbow Newmai that some portions of the road were cleared today while adding that one JCB sent by 4th Bihar Regiment Tamei Battalion and another local JCB of Makui were engaged in clearing the debris.
He continued, "we will continue to work on clearing the road tomorrow" while adding that if it continues to rain this evening anything worse than this morning could happen again.
Expressing discontentment and clarifying over the statement of Chief Minister N Biren Singh on his Facebook post, KSO Twilang Block president, Enock Kipgen said that the statement was very unfortunate and not expected while adding that natural disaster can occur anytime and at any place 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" .