Fear propels clean-up drive - Landslide worry prompts action

Kalimpong, June 22: Early landslides, long before the soil is saturated with water, have prompted the administration and the local people to carry out a regular drain cleaning drive.

The administration led the way this time by cleaning the clogged drains of the town on June 5, World Environment Day, with the active involvement of the residents. And, unlike in the past, the exercise has not been reduced to a daylong ritual only.

Municipality workers are since then conspicuously cleaning drains with a proactive participation from students. On Sunday, the residents of 8th Mile cleared a jhora of all construction material like sand and stones that had been dumped into it. The accumulated muck was restricting the free flow of rainwater downstream. “The fire brigade personnel helped us in the cleaning operation,” said Yakub Tamang, who was part of the drive.

Experts are worried that the threshold level of landslides has been upset. This time the mudslips have occurred after a long dry spell and not at the end of monsoon — usually September — when the earth is saturated with water and the hills are vulnerable. A landslide on Friday in Kurseong killed a man and his three children. Yesterday, The Telegraph had quoted expert Subir Sarkar saying: “A triggering mechanism like the rain is needed for a landslide to occur. But this time the rainfall was neither heavy nor of greater intensity, which suggests the threshold level for landslides to occur has been disturbed. One of the reasons could be that landslide preventive measures have not been put in place.”

As part of such preventive measures, a few days back, the students of the Scottish Universities’ Mission Institution planted 2,700 saplings at Sindebung, a landslide-prone village adjoining the town. The school has an ambitious plan to plant 10,000 saplings in and around the town.

“Our next round of plantation programme will be held at Lower Bongbusty in the next few days,” said Nava Ratna Pradhan, the principal of SUMI.

Save The Hills, an NGO working on the landslide issue, said the heightened level of awareness among the people was a welcome development, even if the pro-active drive was propelled more by fear.

“As someone told me, the fear of landslides is the beginning of awareness. Now that the monsoon is upon us, the people can only do what they are doing now like cleaning the drains and jhoras. Major prevention work cannot be taken up. If the level of preparedness is good, we can at least save lives,” said Praful Rao, the STH president.

In the area of preparedness as well, the relief department of the administration is more active this year. Relief teams have been seen visiting places, especially the vulnerable ones, advising people and assuring them of help.

“We have prepared teams of civil defence volunteers and also have contingents of the National Disaster Response Force on standby. We have also stocked sufficient basic equipment like shovels and ropes that would be needed in rescue operations during landslides,” said an official of the rescue department.

But some experts said only cleaning of jhoras would not do.

“Cleaning of jhoras and drains are not adequate measures to prevent landslides. These are at best short-term measures. There are no signs of long-term planning,” said a member of an NGO.

The administration has still not taken up long-term works like construction of retention walls along jhoras and on land vulnerable to landslides. “These are steps the administration had not taken at any point of time. Plantation is also part of the long-term plan, which has not been put in place,” said the NGO member. 

.telegraphindia.com