Another rockslide at Chümoukedima in Nagaland

DIMAPUR — Barely four days after a rockslide killed two people and injured three others near Chathe Bridge on the Dimapur-Kohima four-lane road in Chümoukedima, a similar incident was reported in the same stretch on Saturday.

As per the Traffic Police of Zone 2, the rockslide occurred about 1 km away from Chümoukedima police check gate at the third road turning around 3:50 pm. However, there was no casualty or damage to vehicles.

The police also said that there was no obstruction of traffic and that the vehicles are moving freely. 

It may be mentioned that Executive Director of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), Riten Kumar Singh, who visited the incident site on Thursday, had said it was a natural calamity.

He maintained that the NHIDCL had followed the guidelines of Hill Road manual by Indian Road Congress (IRC) 1998 in their four-lane road project. He also insisted that NHIDCL has done maximum works and many protection measures were taken up such as rock bolting and netting.

Read: Rockslide causes: Rains, rock type and human interference

Queried why NHIDCL did not take any measures when the state government including Nagaland Pollution Control Board and deputy commissioner of Chümoukedima had apprised them to take cognisance of the danger, he replied that the state government had not provided alternative roads when the road was closed, and questioned what the state government was doing.

He said that the area has been fragile for a long time.