Tamei bus had narrow escape in the middle of a slippery road
More than fifty passengers and the crew of the Tamei bus had a lucky escape this morning when the vehicle slipped in the middle of a slippery road.
According to the IT. Road Joint Monitoring Development Committee no passengers or crew had sustained injury.
The incident occurred at Manedara around 9:30 am along the shortcut road of the state’s oldest highway Imphal-Tamenglong road which goes down from Thonglang Atongba and passed through Manedara, Lamchok, and finally connected to the main highway at Tujang Vaichong.
The passenger bus had to take the shortcut road constructed under PMGSY as a section of the main highway between Thonglang Akutpa and Songjang Pakang was not fit for the bus to pass through owing to a landslide that had occurred in the past.
The bus had reportedly slipped in the middle of the road and its front side almost fell into the deep gorge below the road. Had the bus felt into the gorge the impact could be devastating.
In a viral video, passengers including aged people were seen climbing down from the bus to a safer place.
It may be recalled that multiple landslides had occurred along the Imphal-Tamenglong road at different locations over the past few years till this monsoon rendering tremendous hardships not only to the passengers but also to all the vehicles plying along the road as some portions were too risky to navigate it.
It was the I.T.Road Joint Monitoring Development Committee that shouldered all the responsibilities by playing a vital role in clearing the debris of the landslides for the vehicle to ply and transport passengers and commodities.
However, according to the JMDC Chairman Lutngam Manlun, owing to a lack of funds they could no longer clear the debris of landslides that had occurred in the last part which include the section of Thonglang Akutpa and Songjang Pakang village.
He continued that the JMDC had already spent a huge amount of money in clearing the riad and debris of the landslides and had a heavy debt of more than Rs. 3 lakh till now.
Had there been funds and the landslide debris between Thonglang Akutpa and Songjang Pakang been cleared and the road repaired, this morning’s unfortunate incident could be avoided, he added.
He then appealed to the concerned MLAs, the State Government, and the authorities concerned to seriously look into the hardships faced by the JMDC while rendering selfless service to the public and also pay serious attention to the deplorable road condition. Incessant rainfall has swept across Kangpokpi district including the Twilang area over the past few days even if no major damage and destruction to properties and roads, landslides, etc. have been reported so far.
