Ministers elaborate
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 19 2017: The Minister of Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, has elaborated about the findings and the recommendation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) team sent to Manipur to assess the vast earth crack which developed at Kalikhola village, Kangpokpi district on June 4 .

Replying to the queries of Rajya Sabha MP K Bhabananda Singh, Kiren Rijiju stated that the earth crack and the resultant sinking of the land affected the houses in Kalikhola village .

He pointed out that as per the information received from the State Government, 24 houses had been damaged by landslides though no villagers were hurt .

Replying to a query whether the Government has assessed the situation and sent NDMA teams for evacuation, assistance and rehabilitation, Rijiju stated that an expert team formed by NDMA including representatives from Geological Survey of India, Central Road Research Institute, Central Water Commission and National Disaster Management Authority visited the affected site on June 14 and 15 and submitted a preliminary report regarding precautionary measures .

Rijiju said that the expert team met the State Government officials, local administration and the Deputy Commissioner of Kangpokpi and was informed that the district administration had already shifted the affected people and people from adjoining houses to other safer places .

He also pointed out that the expert team made some salient recommendations including identification of vulnerable houses and evacuation, avoiding further loading of the slope, provision of surface drainage network to divert water away from the affected slope, draining out of water from the accumulated water pool, cleaning of river channel by removing debris, training of the river bank to resist further bank erosion, filling of existing ground cracks with impervious finer material to prevent further ingression of surface water, filling and levelling of the large cracks and subsided parts in the left bank affected slope and road bench, awareness programmes for the local people to understand the dos and don'ts and sustainable land use pattern and surface monitoring of the affected slope to understand the dynamics of the slope mass etc , and have been communicated to the State Government for appropriate action .

On the other hand, answering to queries of K Bhabananda Singh regarding setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in Manipur, Nirmala Sitharaman, the Minister of Commerce and Industry (Independent charge) stated that only one SEZ has been notified in Manipur but is not yet operational .

She further explained that there is no proposal for setting up new SEZ in the State at present as Special Economic Zones being set up under the SEZs Act, 2005 and SEZ Rule, 2006, are primarily private investment driven.

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