Over 50 passengers and the crew of the Tamei bus had a lucky escape Monday morning when the bus they were travelling in slipped in the middle of a road.
According to the IT Road Joint Monitoring Development Committee no passengers nor crew sustained any injury.
The incident occurred at Manedara around 9.30 am along the shortcut road of the state's oldest highway Imphal-Tamenglong road which goes down from Thonglang Atongba and passes through Manedara, Lamchok, and finally connects to the main highway at Tujang Vaichong.
The bus had to take the shortcut road constructed under PMGSY as a section of the main highway between Thonglang Akutpa and Songjang Pakang was not fit for the bus to pass through owing to a landslide that had occurred in the past.
The bus had reportedly slipped in the middle of the road and its front side almost fell into the deep gorge below the road. Had the bus fallen into the gorge the impact would be devastating.
In a viral video, passengers, including aged people, were seen climbing down from the bus to a safer place.
It was the IT Road Joint Monitoring Development Committee that shouldered all the responsibilities of clearing the debris of the landslides. However, according to JMDC Chairman, Lutngam Manlun, owing to a lack of funds they could no longer clear the debris of landslides including the section of Thonglang Akutpa and Songjang Pakang village.
He continued that the JMDC had already spent a huge amount of money in clearing the road and debris of the landslides and had a heavy debt of more than Rs. 3 lakh till now.
He then appealed to the concerned MLAs, the State Government, and the authorities concerned to seriously look into the hardships faced by the JMDC while rendering selfless service to the public and also pay serious attention to the deplorable road condition.
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