The search and rescue operations at the Tupul disaster site in Manipur’s Noney district will be called off on Wednesday evening, it was decided at a meeting of all stakeholders convened by the district administration on Tuesday.
Of the 79 people present at the under-construction Tupul railway station yard in Noney at the time of the landslide, 18 were rescued. Till Sunday, 56 bodies had been found. The dead included 29 Indian Territorial Army personnel and 27 civilians.
Five people are still missing in the landslide described by Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh as the “worst-ever” in the history of the state.
A review meeting held at the Noney DC’s office and chaired by minister of disaster management Awangbou
Newmai decided to formally call off the search on Wednesday evening, 21 days after it began.
Government, NF Railway, Army, Assam Rifles, attended the meeting among others NDRF officials besides representatives of civil society organisations, volunteers, local villagers and victims’ families.
“The villagers expressed their complete satisfaction with the government initiative throughout the search and rescue operation and proposed to call off the search operation after 21 days on Wednesday. All suspected spots were searched to retrieve the bodies. Search operation is on today and will continue tomorrow too before it is called off,” Daichuipao, president of the Rongmei Naga Students’ Organization Manipur (RNSOM), told The Telegraph.
RNSOM members are also involved in the search operations.
The villagers had earlier submitted a charter of demand to the railway authorities, he said, adding that a funeral service at the residences of the deceased and a prayer service at the affected site will be held on Thursday.
Two local villagers perished in the landslide while three are missing. The site of the incident is about 12km from the NH 37 and about 50km from capital Imphal.
A senior official said the decision to call off the search was unanimous.
“The villagers wanted to end the search today itself but we said we will continue till tomorrow. They wanted to complete the last rites of the victims... and also the futility of continuing such a massive search operation despite knowing that the bodies would have decomposed by now,” the official said.
The Territorial Army was deployed for protection of an under-construction railway line from Jiribam to Imphal, approximately 97km.
The Noney district administration had said on the fourth day of the search operation that “identification (of the dead) has become increasingly difficult due to tissue deterioration” and “finding missing bodies is also increasingly difficult as our ability to trace them decreases with depth”.
About 2km of the hill came down during the landslide. The debris had also blocked a part of the Ijei (also called Agah) river, which was subsequently opened by the railways. Bodies were being recovered from a depth of around five to 40 feet.
The administration scaled up the number of personnel involved in the search operation to 998 at one point from 400 while excavators and JCBs to over 40. The Army deployed through wall Imaging Radar and tracker dogs to detect survivors and bodies. Over 700 people are still engaged in the search operation.
Sources said the Makhuam village authority, in their charter of demands, has demanded adequate compensation for the families of the victims and for affected personal properties and free education till graduation to three children of the bereaved families by the NF Railway.
The village authority has also demanded restoration of the local ecology damaged due to the landslide and the renaming of the Tupul Railway sub-station to Makhuam Railway Sub-station, Haochong Railway Sub-Station also to be changed as Makhuam railway sub-station and Jiri to Makhuam Railway Line.
They also want an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA) of the area under the jurisdiction of Makhuam Village and the setting up of a memorial park/site in memory of the victims/deceased at the Makhuam Railway Sub-station.
