Somdal Village Authority refutes blast reports; no evidence of blast found, police claims
Source: Hueiyen News Service / R Lester Makang

Ukhrul, November 29 2015: In the wake of the Manipur Naga People's Front (MNPF) claiming hand in a reported powerful IED blast on Friday at Somdal village in Ukhrul district that appeared in local dailies, the Somdal Village Authority has today vehemently refuted the report saying that it was not a bomb blast but an explosion of a local electric transformer.

According to Somdal villagers, a local electric transformer installed at Awortang locality exploded on its own probably due to certain technical issues around 6 pm on 27 November.

The spot is located about 200 metres from Somdal police outpost station.

At the same time, an Ukhrul district police team which conducted a spot inspection at the village on Sunday has said that no evidence of bomb blast could be gathered from the spot as all the materials/objects including the twin poles and transmission wires nearby were found intact except the broken transformer.

The police further said that there were no traces of splinters or craters which a bomb blast normally left in its trail.

However, the police said that how only the transformer got exploded ripping a portion of its cover open could not be established as yet.

Somdal village Authority chairman Asui Muivah said that there never were any incidents of bomb blast in his village, adding that a local electric transformer installed at Awortang locality got exploded on the said day due to technical failure and that the report of blast was totally groundless.

"The village authority therefore strongly condemns such unfounded reports and those who spread the rumors" .

Interacting with media persons at Somdal village, a resident Wungthing Phungshok narrated that on Friday evening around 6 pm he was loitering outside when he heard a loud report of the transformer explosion after seeing a few sparks on the transmission wires at the spot and the power was gone in the whole locality.

Another resident RV Katuiyo said that soon after the explosion he was the first one to rush to the spot and found the transformer oil spilled all over the spot, adding that something was not right with the transformer as it had been making a murmuring noise in the past few days.

Meanwhile, concerned councillor Thanchipem Jagoi of Somdal DCC has today rush to the village and expressed his unhappiness over the unfounded report creating confusion and fear psychosis among the people.

Meanwhile, Somdal village authority has urged the concerned authorities to repair the broken transformer at the earliest in view of the ongoing students' examinations and hardships of the residents.

Till today, no officials from the district power department have inspected the explosion of the power transformer.

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