Natural disaster: Lesson from Kasom block

Marchang Reimeingam *

A sunken portion of a road at Kasom Khullen :: Pix - TSE

Everywhere in Manipur there are chaos, strikes, bandhs, natural calamities, etc. The situation resembles to a state of emergency. Some people might consider the situation as a blessing for those who wants bribe from strike victims caught during the strikes. For some people like the politicians would be considering the situation to harness vote for next election. To mitigate the situation would include as politician’s election manifesto. Meanwhile, students career are being jeopardised as educational institutions are closed. It hampers human capital formation. Later employability in skilled labour market would be questionable. Then they would be incapacitated with low profile job. Ultimately economic productivity and development would be low and stagnant.

Amidst of this, natural disaster like road landslides and cracks have occurred in many hill areas this year. Besides flood in the plain areas were prominent. All these might have occurred partially due to human intervention like deforestation, improper drainage system, inefficient development planning, etc. The recent land slides along the district roads such as Kasom sub-division (Ukhrul South), Ukhrul district, could have partly avoided if a proper and standard rules and principals of hill area road construction were strictly considered.

For example, drainage or culvert are absent at many road intersection point where culvert is inevitable; or roadside drainage are either not existed or poorly maintained along the hill roads. Road construction engineers should consider the soil density and the type of vehicles and its load that would move on such road. The substandard construction of metal road is other reason for road cracks and frequent land slide.

Construction and reinforcement with retaining walls at steep place, lose soil areas and constantly damp areas will avoid landslide and endure the road condition. Indeed, human cannot control the climate or natural environment like heavy rain; however, human being can mitigate certain disaster such as road damage by adopting modern construction technique and technology. The standard specifically inputs and technique for road construction should be raised to the world’s level with sufficient funding. It is also crucial to continuously maintain and repair damage portion of road. Now it would be a great challenge for Asian Development Bank to reassess and re-plan their ongoing road construction due to the recent development.

The period of 1990s was the only time when blacktop or metal road was laid connecting the sub-divisions of Phungyar (Ukhrul) via Kasom from Tengnoupal (Chandel). Soon blacktop turns to “muddy-top” due to frequent heavy loaded truck movement transporting timbers and also due to poor road construction and maintenance. Blacktop, thin like a sheet of paper literally, were washed away by rain water and immersed inside the mud and dust. It is envisage that ADB would not repeat the same. Monitoring and evaluation of present ADB road construction may yield fruition for lasting road transportation system.

Improved road transportation system is the backbone to improve the economy of the people of the block by enabling them to sell their surplus produce in the prospective nearby markets. It would also enhance the mobility of people for various socio-economic activities including access to facilities like hospital doctors. People of this block needs to come forward together and seek their rightful basic services and amenities including portable drinking water supply, sanitation or even electricity.

As per the census of India 2011, only eight percent of the Kasom sub-division households, against 25 percent in the state, drinks treated tap water. Almost all interior villages in Kasom block complaints about irregularity and lack of power supply. However, census recorded that about 30 percent of the Kasom sub-division households used electricity as their main source of lighting, against 69 percent in the state. There is a very wide disparity in delivering such services at the remote peripheral location with respect to the state’s average. Moreover, such empirical evidences seem to be grossly inflated to raise the developmental parameter rather than to increase budget.

Its strange why immediate road repair did not take place when people are stranded in the remote areas. Delaying in delivery of services is an indication of denying the same by the Government. Government should have immediately intervened in repairing such road damage because every budget includes relief grant or aid for emergency. Experienced in many other states of India have shown that natural calamities specifically road connectivity disruption are immediately attended and repaired. But it is perplexing why the government of Manipur in general and the MLA of Kasom area did not react immediately when people were completely disconnected from the rest of the world without electricity and basic medical facilities. There was no medical help for the casualties who tried to cross beyond the Kasom block on foot for their health care.

The system in Kasom block is more than paralysed ranging from road, education system to life saving medical facilities. There is no banking facility. How do the government expect people to save? In such situation, savings and capital formation is nil. Moreover, since there is no bank in the sub-division people are forced to borrow from the flourished money lenders at exorbitant interest rate. Due to recent road disaster, goods in the limited petty shops in the block were exhausted.

Basic daily use items such as salt and sugar were carried and transported by people, which reminds of the 1970s time when everything was transported on poor and deteriorated road by human physical strength. It impulses the need to have a storehouses at strategic points to stock a daily consumable items adequately for at least three months. This would cater food security during emergency.

People do not expect apathy from the government towards some section of the people or area. Time is not to play blame game while election time is knocking at the door. Uplifting and supporting one another in the interest to achieve human security and food security and overall goals of development be strengthened. Recently, MLA of Kasom area has initiated a repair of the devastated road after people started a mass movement through social media, collective actions of villages of Kasom sub-division, and collective mobilisation of migrants from Kasom block living outside the state to restore the road.

The MLA woke up from deep slumber having a nightmare of the mass movement and realising later the importance of the block’s vote. It is a wake up call for Kasom block inhabited by over 12 thousand people, as per Census of India 2011, spreading in 36 villages to determine their future fate by electing a vibrant MLA who delivers effective and immediate services with equity. Their future depends on choosing MLA or representative who “act” rather than wait to “react” to the cause.