Manipur landslide: Railway to seek IIT, varsity help to prevent future disasters

Imphal, July 21 (IANS) The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), in view of the recent catastrophic landslides in Manipur that claimed over 56 lives, would hold extensive discussions with the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Manipur University and other expert institutions to adopt suitable technical precautions to prevent recurrence of such natural disasters.

A senior NFR official said that the engineers would take expert opinion while executing railway projects in the mountainous and landslide-prone areas of Manipur to have a detailed and suitable planning for working out how the hill slopes adjacent to railway tracks and other assets in the Jiribam-Imphal project can better be monitored, so that early warning can be given for any future untoward event.

"Environment Impact assessment and Social Impact Assessment would also be revisited in the light of this huge landslide," the official told IANS on Thursday.

The three-week long search operation, launched after the disastrous landslide at a railway construction site in Manipur's Noney district on June 29-30, was called off on Wednesday.

The official said that until a permanent employment could be provided to the next of kin of the dead villagers, the Railways would ensure providing contractual employment in one of its construction agencies near the sites in Noney and Kangpokpi districts.

The three children orphaned by the killing of their parents in the landslides would be provided educational expenditure which would be deposited in their respective next of kin's bank accounts so that their education may continue till graduation uninterruptedly.

The children would stay in the Rengpang Residential School first.

Till Monday, 56 bodies, mostly of Territorial Army soldiers, were recovered from the disaster site at Tupul while five people - one TA soldier, three villagers, and one volunteer - are still missing.