How Dima Hasao’s Hangrum Village Suffers Human Made Tragedy

Was it a freak act of nature? Or was it the predictable result of reckless, unscientific human interference?

That is the question reverberating through the hills of Dima Hasao after a deadly landslide on July 16 claimed two lives, injured several, and left a trail of devastation in Hangrum village under Mahur Block. The tragedy, triggered by heavy earth movement during road construction under National Highway 137, has exposed glaring cracks not just in the hillside—but in the system that allowed such work to proceed unchecked during the peak of monsoon.

Locals aren’t mincing words: this wasn’t a natural disaster, they say. This was a man-made calamity, born of negligence and greed.

Two Lives Lost, Many More Shattered

At around 9:30 AM on July 16, disaster struck.

A massive landslide tore through the slopes above Hangrum village. Caught in its path were 70-year-old local resident Guajengambe Riame and a excavator operator employed by Anusha Projects Pvt. Ltd (APPL), the company entrusted with executing Package No. 8 of the Tamenglong–Mahur stretch of NH-137.

Both were buried alive.

Several others sustained serious injuries. Farmlands were swallowed, shops flattened, homes crushed or rendered unlivable. Families now sleep in makeshift shelters, exposed to the rain and uncertainty.

No Warning, No Mitigation, No Accountability

The construction activity by APPL, under the oversight of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL), involved heavy excavation, unscientific slope cutting, and, most alarmingly, the use of blasting materials—dynamite—on an already vulnerable hillside, in the middle of monsoon season.

“There was no geological mapping, no slope protection measures, no site mitigation,” said Daniel Langthasa, Convenor of the Sixth Schedule Protection Committee, who visited the site days after the landslide. “It was a ticking time bomb.”

Langthasa added, “The people of Hangrum did not die in an accident. They died because of engineered recklessness. This was not a landslide. This was murder by infrastructure.”

A Plea Ignored

On July 17, Gaon Bura Ditungteung Neume submitted formal complaints to both NHIDCL and APPL, demanding immediate damage assessment, compensation for the bereaved families, and urgent rehabilitation for the displaced. He also demanded a permanent ban on the use of blasting materials in residential and landslide-prone zones.

In his letter, Neume asked a chilling but pertinent question: “What is the point of a road that reaches us only after it kills us?”

Despite the urgency of the appeal, no NHIDCL official or APPL representative has visited Hangrum as of July 20. No relief, no survey, no assurance of compensation has reached the village. Not even condolences.

The Hills Are Talking—But Is Anyone Listening?

Daniel Langthasa, who has tracked several such cases of unsafe infrastructure development across Dima Hasao, points to a larger pattern.

“NHIDCL and their contractors treat these hills like disposable terrain. They mine our soil, blast our cliffs, and disappear when disasters strike,” he said. “Jatinga to Silchar, the pattern is the same—cut, dump, abandon. And when people die, it’s called a ‘natural disaster.’ How convenient.”

The Price of ‘Development’

The tragedy of Hangrum has reignited a larger debate on how infrastructure is pursued in ecologically fragile, tribal-inhabited zones. While the NH-137 project is meant to improve connectivity in one of the most underserved regions, its execution has followed a playbook of corporate speed, bureaucratic opacity, and ecological ignorance.

“What kind of development displaces, kills, and destroys in its wake?” Langthasa asked. “We are not against roads. We are against roads that come drenched in blood and buried homes.”

The community is now demanding not only compensation and relief, but also a structural overhaul of how projects like NH-137 are implemented — with scientific oversight, community consent, and ecological safeguards.

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