Railways Contractual Jobs For Manipur Landslide Deceased's Kin: Chief Minister

Railways will provide contractual employment to the next of kin of those killed in a landslide in Manipur's Noney district till permanent jobs are provided to them, Chief Minister Biren Singh has said.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Northeast Frontier Railways, Noney district administration, and Makhuam village authority here on Wednesday regarding the charter of demands put forth by the village authority after June 30 incident in which 61 people were killed.

As per the MoU, a joint survey shall be carried out by the three sides on the extent of damage caused by the incident and the estimate shall be submitted to the Railways for compensation, the chief minister said.

Railways will also carry out extensive discussions with institutions such as IIT Guwahati and Manipur University so that railway projects on hilly terrain in the state can be better monitored for early warning to prevent such incidents in the future, he said.

As per the MoU, a survey on the environmental and social impact of railway projects in the state will also be carried out in light of the landslide.

The state government on Wednesday officially called off the search operations 20 days after a massive landslide struck a railway construction site at Tuple.

A total of 61 people died in the incident. Fifty-six bodies have been found and six people are still missing but declared dead. Eighteen people were rescued. 

Around 700 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Fire, Army, and police took part in the search operation in which 43 machines, mostly earthmovers, were used. A total of Rs 30 lakh was sanctioned for the exercise.

An ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh was announced for the next of kin of the deceased, and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

(Inputs from PTI)