Morung gutted at Pongo village : Jhum fire razed down traditional morung to ashes

The traditional morung razed down to ashes, the charred remains of the morung at Pongo village

A large traditionally decorated morung with various woodcraft of animals and a log drum, which was located at the site of Phom Monyu festival village, Pongo village was completely gutted down by fire on March 9 at around 1:30 pm. It was the venue for the celebration of ‘Monyu’ the premier festival of Phoms on April 1 and 2.

According to Monyu festival committee chairman, L Yingsham Phom, the unfortunate incident occurred when the fire lid by some villagers to clear the jhum field lid by some villagers to clear the jhum field accidentally spread to the nearby uncut jungle that ultimately reach the Morung due to the sudden strong winds and reduced the morung into ashes.

In this connection, an FIR was lodged at the Longleng police station to investigate the case.
The unfortunate fire incident has caused a great lost to the village which in terms of money is estimated to be property worth Rs. 4.75 lakhs was destroyed in the fire.

The chairman termed the incident as a “great loss” for the village not only in monetary terms but also for the time constraint caused by the incident as the village was to host the Monyu festival.

Monyu festival committee, chairman L Yingsham Phom in a press release has appealed all concern to bear with the inability to organise this year’s Monyu festival in a big way as in the past due to the unfortunate fire incident.