Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
The body of another person who was crushed under piles of boulders triggered by a landslide along the Shillong-Dawki Road at Rngaiñ near Pynursla on April 14 evening, was recovered on Sunday morning, East Khasi Hills district authorities informed.
The body identified as that of June Khongjirem was retrieved by personnel of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Civil Defence and Home Guard along with Pynursla police and villagers.
It may be mentioned that on Saturday evening rescuers retrieved the body of Seibor Jaktung, the Rangbah Shnong of Wahlyngkhat.
On the fateful evening the duo were returning to their village in their vehicle (ML05 T 7892) when tragedy struck.
Villagers say that the road has not been cleared yet even though authorities have begun to drill the boulders lying in the middle of the road.
Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Pynursla Civil Sub Division, Evarinia Warjri, informed that the road is yet to be cleared adding that it is expected that the NHIDCL will clear the debris by Monday evening.
“We have not put any deadline but we have asked them to clear the debris as soon as possible. However the NHIDCL are doing in such a way that no further damages occur,” Warjri said.
The SDO also informed that an FIR as directed by the government has been filed.
Officials of the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL) refused to say anything on the matter.
On Saturday, deputy chief minister and local MLA Prestone Tynsong, who visited the accident site, lashed out at the engineers of NHIDCL for their alleged failure in overseeing the safety procedures while carrying out the construction work of the Shillong-Dawki Road.
Tynsong also said that the East Khasi Hills district administration will file an FIR and a case will be registered in connection with the April 14 landslide along the Shillong-Dawki Road at Rngain near Pynursla.
The deputy chief minister had also directed NHIDCL engineers, who were present at the site, to immediately bring experts from IIT-Guwahati to study the condition of the soil and the topography of the stretch at Rngain before going ahead with the construction work.