Fresh landslide cut-off Imphal-Jiribam section of NH-37

A fresh landslide has yet again disturbed normal vehicular movement along Imphal-Jiribam section of NH-37 completely on Friday, forcing hundreds of Imphal-bound goods-laden trucks and empty trucks heading for Assam from Imphal side stranded midway.
The fresh massive landslide along the stretch of the highway between Luwangchung and Ramkhul villages in Noney district was triggered by torrential rainfall in the last few days.
It blocked the NH-37 early Friday morning, around 5 am causing complete halt to the vehicular movement, reports said.
The landslide affected an estimated 50-meter stretch of the highway and left several vehicles stranded on both sides.
The area where the landslide occurred is one of the locations classified as landslide and mudslide zone where loose soils from the steep mountain slides whenever it rain causes landslides and mudslides.
Friday’s landslide occurred minutes after around 177 trucks carrying essential goods with security escorts passed the area.
No untoward incident related to the landslide was reported as no vehicle was moving in the area when the sliding of soils and rocks started.
Officials said that the restoration works commenced shortly after the landslide with machinery deployed by ABCI, the company responsible for road construction and maintenance in the stretch of the highway, to clear the debris.
The officials expected the clearance operation to take several hours.
A source in the Manipur police said that apart from security forces deployed nearby, a CRPF convoy was deployed to assist the authorities in road clearance works.
This is the second time in which major landslide halted the normal traffic along this highway, which is considered to be the second lifeline of Manipur came up less than a month.
Earlier on June 4, A massive landslide between Awangkhul and Langkhong villages in Noney district halted vehicular movement along Imphal-Jiribam section of NH-37.
If not cleared, Friday’s massive landslide is likely to hit the supply of essential commodities in the state as Imphal-Dimapur section of NH-2, the other key supply route has remained cut-off in Nagaland since May last week.