Dam water ingresses towards Chadong Church
Source: Hueiyen News Service / R Lester Makang
Ukhrul, July 19 2015 :
Chadong villagers on Sunday attended perhaps the their last Church service with hearty prayers, fasting and tears.
The service will be the last for the Chadong Church people whose village is submerged by the Mapithel dam waters, At least 20 houses had gone under water.
The Chadong Church was one of the oldest Churches of Southern Tangkhul Naga Baptish Association (STNBA) .
The Church was established in 1936 and celebrated Golden Jublee in 1986 and celebrated Diamond Jublee in 2000 .
"It is now only a matter of two or three days at most before the water submerges our Church" said Village Authority member Shimthar Mahongnao in a chat with Hueiyen Lanpao over the phone on Saturday evening.
Mahongnao expressed desperation that by the beginning of next week probably Monday or Tuesday the Church would be going under water.
He also said that the water surface has increased to an alarming level as heavy rain continued unabated for consecutive three days.
"We are being displaced by the ingressing water but since we cannot just flee leaving our ancestral lands, we are in the process of setting up temporary shelters on higher grounds at Rakurang and Nikaorang hills nearby," he disclosed.
Meanwhile, he said that one NGO has provided two new canoes for the villagers, saying "I cannot remember the name at the moment but it is a valley based NGO.
With this, we now have four numbers of wooden canoes" .
While reposing confidence in NGOs and other civil society organizations, Mahongnao poured out vehement anguish against the government saying that it has no concern about the sufferings of the affected villagers.