IMPHAL, July 19: Several loaded trucks including 62 oil tankers which were left stranded at various places in Nagaland and Assam due to the landslide at Phesama will be proceeding towards Manipur through National Highway-37 (Imphal-Jiribam Road).
The trucks have already started on the journey.
This was informed to this IFP reporter by Transporters’ & Drivers’ Forum president Y Bhupenchandra Gosh and general secretary Laishram Ratan Khuman.
They further said that due to the landslide at Phesama vehicles coming to Manipur including oil tanker, LPG bullet and loaded trucks numbering around 400 were left stranded at Dimapur in Nagaland and Khatkhati, Bokajan and Lohrijan in Assam.
The Heritage Road in Kohima cannot be used due to its steepness and also because it is a single lane road, they said.
The loaded truck cannot pass the said road. Only light vehicles are allowed to pass the road. DI Tata and Winger which runs passenger services are also allowed to pass the said road however the passengers are made to walk while passing the road to avoid any kind of unwanted incidents, they said.
The Nagaland government had suggested two bypass roads following the landslide at Phesama, the first one is Kohima via Jessami in Ukhrul and to Imphal and the second one is through roads from Kohima leading to Tadubi in Manipur, they said.
However, the Nagaland government is not fully aware of the road conditions of the two mentioned roads as it has not been used by heavy vehicles for some many years and adding to it, these roads are single lane roads, they said.
The loaded trucks and oil tankers are afraid to pass along these roads as they might get stuck in the middle with no moving forward or backward, they said.
The stranded trucks have now decided to come to Manipur through Imphal-Jiribam Road and they have started moving since last night. Out of the stranded trucks which include LPG bullet and oil tanker numbering around 137 at Khatkhati in Assam, 62 numbers have started moving since 9:40 last night towards Manipur along the Imphal-Jiribam highway. The remaining trucks will also be following shortly, the two informed.
They further informed that the CRPF will escort the oil tankers till Rangajan and from there they will arrive without any escorts till Jiribam and from Jiribam they will be escorted by Manipur Rifles and India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel till Imphal.
The trucks which are coming from Khatkhati in Assam passing Jiribam will be covering around 875 Kilometres when they reach Imphal. They will come from Khatkhati passing Rangajan, Gholaghat, Numaligarh, Tinali, Kaziranga, Naogoan, Jorhat, Shillong, Jawai, Diganghat, Sonapur, Badalpur and Silchar, the two added.
Meanwhile, a late report reaching this office has informed that 18 oil tankers have left from Khatkhati for Silchar at about 4 pm today. The remaining trucks will be leaving Khatkhati from 7 am tomorrow. The oil tankers that left Khatkhati last night will be arriving at Imphal tomorrow evening, it added.