North East: Rain and landslide damage major roads, Manipur cut off from rest of the country
Part of a highway collapsed after a landslide near Kohima and a bridge was damaged in Manipur.
Manipur was virtually cut off from the rest of the country on Sunday after a bridge along the National Highway 37 got damaged following heavy rain. Rain over the last few days has also damaged a part of National Highway 29 in Nagaland, the Hindustan Times reported.
A stretch of around 100 metres on the busy Kohima-Dimapur sector of NH-29 near Kohima sank early on Sunday because of a landslide. This left more than 100 Manipur-bound goods trucks stranded on the highway.
The bridge, over Barak River along the Imphal-Jiribam sector of NH-37, got damaged when a loaded truck was on it on Sunday morning. Dozens of trucks were unable to move near the bridge.
“We have removed the truck from the bridge and now the repairing and restoration works of the bridge is underway,” an official of the National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation told the Hindustan Times.
The rain also caused landslides along parts of NH-2, affecting traffic along the Kohima-Dimapur road, PTI reported on Sunday, quoting Nagaland Police.
Kohima Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Soundararajan told Morung Express that necessary arrangements were being made to send essential commodities to the public via alternate routes. Police have restricted the movement of vehicles.