NGO fills govt boots in fight against landslides

Kalimpong, Jan. 29: A few concerned residents, under the banner of Save the Hills, are trying to find ways to fight landslides in Kalimpong, a problem skirted by the powers-that-be.

Over the past two days, the residents hosted a team of students from the North Bengal University’s one-year post-graduate diploma programme in disaster management and gave them a detailed account of the havoc caused by landslides in Kalimpong in September last year.

The team had eight students, accompanied by the department head Sanjay Rana.

The team was taken to a few landslide-hit areas like Elainchikhop, Bhalukhop, Dalapchand and 14th Mile. Save the Hills also conducted a workshop where its president Praful Rao made a power-point presentation for the benefit of the students.

“Some of the students will incorporate what they have learnt during this field trip in their project reports, which they have to prepare in the second semester of their course,” said Rana.

The objective behind the visit, said Rana, was to enable the students to get a first-hand experience of landslides and gather technical inputs.

The students, on their part, said the visit was of immense benefit to them.

“Lack of drainage, haphazard construction and poor soil character seemed to be the main causes of the landslides. What was also noticeable was that the people were not sufficiently aware of the problem,” said Preeti Gurung, a student.

In fact, the students were so moved by Save the Hill’s work on landslides that some of them have made a commitment to support the NGO in whatever way they can.

“We will be writing to authorities concerned and, maybe, even hold a seminar on the issue in our university,” said Gurung.

Rana confirmed that he was toying with the seminar idea.

The NGO has expressed unhappiness over the complete lack of initiative from government agencies to tackle the problem.

“Despite writing to so many agencies, we have found no evidence of any preventive work being done on the ground. The situation remains exactly the same as it was in September. This is scary because the monsoon is only about four-five months away,” said Rao.

The NGO has been tirelessly campaigning about the threat since the September landslides. It has already conducted three workshops.

“Despite receiving little response from agencies concerned, we will keep espousing the cause because, quite simply, our future is at stake here,” said the president of the NGO.

On September 7, 2007, five persons had died in the Kalimpong subdivision after incessant rain triggered a series of landslides in the area.

Source: The Telegraph

Continuous Landslides endangers life

Location I: Gumbahatta, H.D. Pradhan Road (Kalimpong Municipality area). A big crack has appeared on the road. If the road caves in, lives of hundreds of families living both above and below it will be at risk.

Location II: Sangsey Phatak near Deolo hill. The entire hill has started sliding down. Huge cracks have appeared on the hillside, putting at risk the villages of Dalapchand and Ecchey as well as the adjacent areas.

These were some of the sights that greeted the team comprising four concerned residents of Kalimpong who toured the subdivision on Tuesday. The Telegraph was a party to the recce, which was organised by Kalimpong Consumers’ Association (KCA).

The team felt that the damages caused by a succession of landslides in Kalimpong this year is greater than the devastation wreaked by the rain in 1968.

“The rain-induced devastation of 1968 got magnified manifold after the overflowing waters of the Teesta swept away the bridge over it (at Teesta Bazar, 16km from Kalimpong town). However, by the looks of it, the spread of damage is much greater this time,” said Bharat Mani Pradhan, the Rotary Club representative in the team.

The damages were there for everyone to see. Between Chitrey and 27th Mile, a distance of about 10km, as many as five big slides have occurred during the course of this monsoon. The situation is no better on Reshi Road, which connects the Kalimpong town with Algarah to the north-east. At 14th Mile, about 25m of the road has sunk. At 11th Mile, which is within the municipality area, a long crack has developed right at the centre of the road.

The Deolo-Dalapchand Road, which runs parallel to Reshi Road, but on a higher gradient, is also sinking at many places. Villagers residing on the hill slope between the two roads are threatened. Tirpai-Homes Road has also developed cracks, putting in danger the residents of Saipatrigoan near Tirpai. The area has about 150 houses.

“We have been spending our nights at the market complex in Topkhana because the hill on which our houses are built has become very unstable. Apart from plastic sheets and rice, the administration has provided us with very little relief,” said Raju Chettri, an affected resident.

Given the gravity of the situation, the KCA has decided to send SOS to all officials. “We are through with our report on what we believe is an alarming situation and will be posting them to all authorities concerned within the next couple of days,” said Praful Rao, the association’s secretary.

The report, among other things, suggests carrying out a detailed study on the drainage system in both the urban and rural areas of the subdivision, besides broadening of the existing drains and ensuring their proper maintenance. It also recommends clearing the jhoras or local streams.

“We also suggest that the practice of planting bamboo plants to bind the soil must be done away with immediately since they don’t seem to hold the soil together. On the contrary, what was noticed is that the heavy weight of the tall grass causes the soil to slip,” said Wangchuck Basi, another member of the team.

The fourth member of the team was KCA president N.P. Dixit.

Source: The Telegraph

Chowkidar died while saving people

Darjeeling : A 55-year-old chowkidar was struck down by landslide this morning, but not before he managed to save half a dozen lives from the debris that came tumbling down the hill.

Triggered by heavy overnight rain (167.30mm), rocks and mud had come sliding down to the road at Nalman Gaon in Lebong around 7.30am. Seikh Ahmed, a resident of the area, 7km from here, started alerting people when boulders followed the small rocks.

He managed to keep away two schoolchildren from the spot. Ahmed also waved frantically at a jeep, which was coming down the road.

Dhan Kumar Bhujel, the driver of the vehicle, was not sure what was happening and had slowed down. The next moment the jeep was swept off the road and would have fallen into the gorge had it not been for the house of one Loben Sherpa.

The jeep stood sandwiched between the debris and the house. The passengers of the vehicle — Mani Thapa, Sapnam Thapa and Roshan Tamang — escaped with minor injuries.

“We received a new lease of life because of this man (Ahmed). Had he bothered about his own safety, we probably would not have lived,” said the visibly shaken driver.

According to Bhujel, Ahmed died from the impact of the falling debris.

Ahmed’s one-storied wooden house too was covered with debris but his wife Saifal Begum has survived with minor injuries.

Four more persons from the area were injured.

Army personnel posted at Lebong Cantonment along with civil defence and fire brigade workers carried out the rescue operations.

Another landslide along Lebong Cart Road, 2km ahead of Nalman Gaon, had blocked the route and rescuers had to wade through the debris to reach the mishap site. The road was cleared later in the day with two excavators.

Nine houses have been partially damaged at Nalman Gaon and two more at Batasia, on the southern fringes of the town. One house was affected at Bhutia Busty below Chowrastha. Cracks have also appeared on a house in Takdha, 30km from here, while two houses were affected at Sukhipokhri, 23km away.

Debris also covered the toy train tracks in three places between Darjeeling and Ghoom, following which the services were suspended for today. National Highway 55 was also blocked at Paglajhora near Kurseong.

Source: The Telegraph