Massive landslide at Piphema blocks traffic; single lane restored for light vehicles to ply

Our Correspondent
Kohima, May 10 (EMN): A massive landslide occurred along the National Highway-29 in Piphema on Monday morning, blocking the traffic between Dimapur and Kohima and causing inconveniences to travellers.

The affected road was restored for light vehicles (single lane) by afternoon.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Medziphema, Imsongmeren informed Eastern Mirror that the contractor started restoration work immediately after the landslide happened and restored single lane for light vehicles.

However, it will take a few more hours to restore the road for heavy vehicles, that too for a single lane. There are workers present at the landslides site to clear the roads, he said. 

The administrator informed that the landslide was a “big” one and might take around two to three days to clear the affected area.

The landslide had affected around 200 metres of road but no casualty was reported, he added.

The reason for the landslide, he said, was ‘because of steep road cutting. ‘Thrust area’ could be another reason, he added.

‘Starting from Piphema up to Medziphema, its thrust area is already crushed by the active movement of the earth,’ the officer pointed out, adding that instances of landslides will happen with the start of raining season.

The administrator informed that he had already conveyed to the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) that there are many areas which are “very dangerous” along the stretch of Chathe River Bridge (Patkai Bridge) to Kukidolong.

“From laymen point of view, we can say that if rain starts, definitely there will be rock falls or landslides along that stretch,” he pointed out.

It may be mentioned that NHIDCL had given its assurance to complete the four-lane road several times; last one being made on March 31 2021.