Leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia on Sunday demanded a review of all the recent constructions by Indian Railways in geo-sensitive zones of the northeastern region in view of a massive landslide at such a site in Manipur, which claimed over 40 lives.
He also demanded the quick evacuation of all trapped workers and monetary compensation for the families of those killed and the injured in the incident at Tupul yard railway construction site in the Noney district of the neighboring state.
Saikia wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Eight people from Assam have been killed in the accident, while 12 others are still missing.
"I would like to request you to release an order to review all the recent constructions of Indian Railways in these geo-sensitive zones of North East India to prevent any such case in the near future," the Congress leader wrote to the PM.
He also sought immediate release of compensation from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to the families of the deceased workers and an amount of Rs 25 lakh be paid to each of them.
He urged the prime minister to provide Rs 10 lakh each as compensation to all injured people in the accident.
The death toll in the landslide at the railway construction site rose to 42 on Sunday evening as eight more bodies were found from the debris.
So far, 13 Territorial Army personnel and five civilians have been safely rescued.
Saikia claimed that a primary investigation into the incident has revealed that railways authorities "had not followed disaster management protocols adequately, as a result of which so many lives have been lost".
In another letter to the railway minister, Saikia sought quick evacuation of trapped workers from the accident site.
Twenty people are still missing with heavy rain and fresh landslides impeding the search operations since Saturday, an official said.
Saikia also demanded immediate release of Rs 25 lakh each from Relief Funds of Indian Railways to families of those killed in the accident.
He also wanted Rs 10 lakh each for those injured.
In another letter to the Assam chief minister, the opposition leader alleged that migration of Assamese youths to other parts of the country for jobs exposed "the government's failure" to provide them employments in their home state.
"It can be seen in this incident that even after possessing minimum qualifications, many Assamese youths had to go to neighbouring states to work as daily wage workers in such vulnerable conditions," Saikia wrote.
He urged the chief minister to take urgent steps to create job opportunities in Assam and implement livelihood and social security schemes properly.
Saikia also appealed to him to release a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for families of the deceased from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund and Rs 5 lakh each to the injured.
He asked Sarma to write to the railway minister to take responsibility for the families who lost their lone breadwinners in the accident.
