An anomaly corrected ..at least for the time being

Reproduced below is an extract of STH post on 11Dec2007 ( Letter to the Chief Minister, West Bengal)

1. Necessity of correcting an anomaly

It was apparent from our meeting with some state Govt officials, that in Darjeeling District, both the State Govt and DGHC (Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council) were jointly in charge of disaster management. We were informed, that prevention of disaster was NOT the responsibility of the District Magistrate since many of the departments concerned with preventive work were not under him (but were under the Principal Secretary, DGHC)

This is contrary to the Disaster Management Act 2005 Chapter IV (District Disaster Management Authority) Para 30 (Powers and Functions of District Authority) and needs to be addressed immediately.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: - A single nodal body may be identified in the district which is empowered to take ALL necessary action to deal with natural disaster in its entirety.
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Here is an extract from today's Telegraph:-

Council top post for DM

Darjeeling, Feb. 20: The Bengal government today appointed the Darjeeling district magistrate as the interim principal secretary of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) even as the hills remained shut on the first day of the indefinite bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

The tenure of incumbent principal secretary of the DGHC, D.T. Tamlong, came to an end yesterday following which the district magistrate was asked to take charge of the council for the first time since it was formed 20 years ago.

Although bureaucrats have always headed the council, this is the first time that an IAS officer in charge of the district administration has been told to look after a parallel administration.

“I received the government order today,” said Rajesh Pandey, the district magistrate of Darjeeling.

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What this will (hopefully) mean, at least for the time being, is that disaster management (both the preventive and post disaster aspects) will come under one man ie the DM...
Looking at this development from the narrow perspective of landslide prevention, well, I for one am happy about the change!
Meanwhile we are living thru extraordinary times in the hills...much more of that story can be gleaned from www.kalimpong.info, www. darjeelingtimes.com and www.telegraph.in

praful rao

An untold story - the Balasun saga

Balasun tea garden, P.O. Sonada, Sukhia Pokharia, Darjeeling is better known for the fine tea the garden produces. It is located at an altitude of 1400m just below Sonada town and sprawls over 400 hectares of land.

However, unknown to many, Balasun TG has a more sinister side – landslides.

With Balasun river gnawing at its heels, the landslide problem at Balasun TG is decades old. But it turned serious around 2003 when the sinking of land in some parts of the tea garden became alarming.

Of the 3 affected hamlets (Paari gaon, Babu gaon and Gairi gaon), Paari gaon is the worst off. Here, when hairline cracks in the earth started turning into monstrous chasms within days, 93 houses had to be evacuated. Of these 77 families have been relocated details of which are as follows:-
a) 30 houses were built by Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) fund
b) 29 were built by the Panchayat, DGHC
c) 18 houses were built by Anugyalaya Darjeeling Diocese Social Service Society (DDSSS) with the support of Caritas.

16 families are still to be relocated and are living in small temporary shelters.

- As reported by Ashesh Rai, member Anugyalaya DDSSS
photo credits Anugyalaya DDSSS

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Comment by Praful Rao

Paari gaon is a grave yard of deserted, dilapidated houses today. But what is worrisome is that the other two hamlets are also following suit in a sinister chain reaction which seems virtually unstoppable.
Is this area really doomed? If so how many people will be affected in the short and long term? And what are the relocation/ resettlement plans?
If preventive action will delay the rate of land loss (if not stop the landslides) why have they not been taken in a more consistent way considering that Balasun river is not as turbulent or huge as the Teesta river?

These questions are all too familiar to any one who has read these blogs and unfortunately cannot be ignored any more both by the Government and the society at large.

GSI recommendations ignored

The Geological Survey of India (GSI- http://www.gsi.gov.in) is the nodal body for landslides in India and is responsible for carrying out hazard studies in landslide prone areas.

Placed below are the recommendations from a "Report on Landslide Hazard Micronzonation of Kalimpong Municipal area for Urban Planning" dated July 2001, carried out by the GSI.

"Recommendations

Only the low hazard zones should be utilized for human settlement. It is recommended to construct only 2-3 storied building after considering ground realities, especially the slope factor and the load bearing capacity of the soil/rock.

Assam type houses (light structure with akra panel wall) maybe constructed on moderate susceptibility zone. It may be noted that this zone is in a metastable condition. Any unplanned cutting may change the stability and marginally stable ground may become unstable.

High susceptibility zone and very high susceptibility hazard zone should be utilized for forest development which will reduce the THED and thus landslide susceptibility. Similarly easing of slope by benching and proper drainage system should be developed to reduce the landslide susceptibility. In very susceptible zones preventive measures are to be taken up immediately so as to stop the chances of further landslides and to reduce the rate of lateral and headward aggressions of the existing slides.

Such LHZ assessment should be repeated at least once in a decade and after some natural calamity to evaluate the changing status, since all susceptible stages are part of a continuum."

Though this report was given to the Govt more than 6yrs ago, I am unaware of any action being taken in terms of "proper drainage system being developed" or"preventive measures to be taken immediately to stop further landslides".

I also daresay that many of the landslides which took place within the municipal limits in Sep2007, did so in the "high susceptibility zone and very high susceptibility hazard zone" as mapped by the GSI and some (like the Alaichikhop /Chota Bhalukhop, Tharpacholing landlsides etc) were the direct result of improper/ nonexistent drainage. The landslide in Chota Bhalukhop resulted in 2 fatalities.

praful rao

ps:- the italics in the GSI recommendations are mine

It all looks great on drawing boards in air conditioned offices...

Placed below is an article from the Telegraph today:-
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Rethink on NH31A double lane project

RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Feb. 11: The proposal to double-lane NH31A from Sevoke to Gangtok is being reconsidered with a special task force of the Union surface transport ministry looking at the possibility of alternative alignments between the two points. This is after the Sikkim government has raised doubts over the feasibility of double-laning the highway as the hills along this stretch are fragile.

During the last monsoon, traffic on the highway was severely disrupted following frequent landslides at various places along the route. According to sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in New Delhi and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the task force, headed by D. Saran, additional director general in the surface transport ministry, has suggested two different alignments.

The first one is proposed along the left bank of the Teesta river from the Teesta bridge to the Coronation Bridge, and the second one on the right bank of the river from Ranipool to the Teetsa bridge.

The search for the new alignment has no connection with the proposal to widen the Damdim-Rishi-Rhenok-Ranipool road, another link between Gangtok and Siliguri.

This road will be widened to national highway single lane specifications as per the requirements of the troops guarding the Sikkim border, said a BRO source.

The original plan was to double-lane NH31A from Sevoke to Nathula. While the BRO has already started work on the Gangtok-Nathula stretch of the highway, it will take more time before the Sevoke-Gangtok work takes off. Notably, the NHAI is supposed to execute the double-laning work between Sevoke and Gangtok.

Environmentalists have breathed a sigh of relief over the ministry’s decision to look for alternative alignment. “It is a sound decision. The hills along the highway are fragile and any attempt to disturb them could prove very costly,” said Vikash Pradhan, an environmental activist.

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Comment by Praful Rao

When ever I read some thing about double laning NH31A or some insane proposal like making a railway line from Siliguri to Rangpo (as was mooted last year sometime); I can't help imagining that the planners are a group of suave bureaucrats and engineers huddled over drawing boards in plush air conditioned offices in Delhi - far removed from the ground realities of these mountains.
On paper and slick powerpoint presentations, these grandiose visions of four lane autobahns in the hills may seem totally plausible just as the possibility of a quick victory in the Iraq war must have been to President Bush in 2003 (when the US invaded Iraq).
The reality is that this area experiences some of the heaviest rainfall in the world and it is extremely difficult to maintain the present highway itself let alone a double-laned one.
Last year the NH31A was breached at many, many places from Sevoke to Chitrey, and landslides from Deolo, Bara Bhalukhop, leprosy hospital and the upper reaches of Kalimpong, smashed thru highway at many places between Chitrey and Rangpo. We, in Kalimpong had to suffer shortages, and rise in prices of many commodities for weeks thru the monsoons.
So when I read of such proposals and the inevitable necessity of engineers blasting the mountains apart in order to carve out a double lane NH31A....
I just balk.
As a grim reminder, I have put up some photographs of NH31A from our first tour of the landslides on 14 Sep2007.

NREGA - an untapped weapon in landslide prevention

Like the Right to Information Act (RTI Act-2005) , the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA-2005) is perhaps one of the most progressive pieces of legislation in recent years because it provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage.
But like the RTI, the NREGA also, may have its problems in implementation.
Notwithstanding all the pessimism that goes along with all such things, I have seen it action in my own little village (Bara Bhalukhop) where a new road is being constructed by village folk and the progress which is being made is phenomenal.
But here is where I begin to have differences, whereas the NREGA places tremendous resources in terms of manpower, raw material and funding in our hands; yet all of it is going only towards construction of new roads (in Kalimpong subdivision at least) which itself are a source for new landslides.

(Slide 1 shows Pashyor/Chibo area, Kalimpong from the opposite hills ie Soreng. The scale of devastation is quite apparent from the photograph. Slide 2 is a closeup of one of the major jhoras or mountain rivulet in Pashyor, 5th mile, Kalimpong which is responsible for much of the destruction- as can be seen no preventive work has been done here for decades. Slide 3 shows construction of a new road in the same area where there is tremendous damage by landslides year after year... makes me wonder why, the same resources were not diverted towards landslide prevention first)

Yes! roads are the arteries which nourish us but I think there should be a judicious use of the NREGA resources :-

Much, much of the NREGA schemes should be towards landslide prevention…

Perhaps then we will stop wondering like one Govt official did “where would the funds for landslide prevention come from?”

Answer: NREGA (at least partly)

for those interested, more on NREGA is available here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rural_Employment_Guarantee_Act_(NREGA)

praful rao

Then and now- Teesta Lo dam (27th Mile), Kalimpong

After torrential rains in the last week of Jul2007 the NHPC Lo dam project at 27th mile went under water at around 3 AM (slides 1 and 2). I had gone there with a group of friends later the same after noon.
As the photos reveal, there has been a dramatic change since then and much progress seems to have been made in reconstructing the dam (slides 1a and2a). Where I have my doubt is in slide3..this is the area directly above the dam site on the road from to Rangli- Rangliot and Takdah. I hope the reconstruction of that and other areas which have been impacted by the dam construction is also as speedy.

praful rao

Then and now -Alaichikhop and Chota Bhalukhop

5 months have elapsed since "the silent disaster" of Sep2007 and we have another 3 months (Feb to April) before the monsoons hit us again..
In this series, I will post photos of landslides (taken earlier after the landslides) and photos of the same area, taken approximately from the same spot 5months later. To be fair, I will also post photos of any preventive work which has taken place around the affected areas and maybe a short interview with any of the local people available.
You be the judge and see how much preventive work has has taken place. (I will post photos from spots in and around Kalimpong where I live, but I am pretty much sure the story is the same elsewhere in the district.)

I have visited Alaichikhop many, many times since Sep2007, primarily because it is so close. The huge landslide there nudges the flanks of Kalimpong town and threatens a densely populated area as well as perhaps the oldest/most famous landmark of Kalimpong, the Mcfarlane Memorial Church.
All the "Then" photographs below are from my earlier blog (refer 23Sep2007 entry- "The silent disaster"). The "Now" photographs are from a few days ago; and also include slide 5 and 6 which shows the populated area under threat.

From "then" to "now" I have not seen a single stone being moved to decrease the hazard in this area.








praful rao

Then and now..11th Mile

5 months have elapsed since "the silent disaster" of Sep2007 and we have another 3 months (Feb to April) before the monsoons hit us again..
In this series, I will post photos of landslides (taken earlier after the landslides) and photos of the same area, taken approximately from the same spot 5months later. To be fair, I will also post photos of any preventive work which has taken place around the affected areas and maybe a short interview with any of the local people available.
You be the judge and see how much preventive work has has taken place. (I will post photos from spots in and around Kalimpong where I live, but I am pretty much sure the story is the same elsewhere in the district.)
In Sep2007 the landslide at 11th mile did not quite occur. What did happen was that large land mass with many buildings/structures on it suddenly sank..the cause was a jhora (mountain rivulet) which was never "trained".
5 months later the huge crack on the road has been covered with a veneer of bitumen and a limited amount of work has been done on the jhora.
Suffice it to say that this exemplifies the type of preventive work that has taken place at many places - a case of too little, too late.

(Sep07 photo courtesy Chinlop bhai)

praful rao

Then and now..Tharpacholing monastery

5 months have elapsed since "the silent disaster" of Sep2007 and we have another 3 months (Feb to April) before the monsoons hit us again..
In this series, I will post photos of landslides (taken earlier after the landslides) and photos of the same area, taken approximately from the same spot 5months later. To be fair, I will also post photos of any preventive work which has taken place around the affected areas and maybe a short interview with any of the local people available.
You be the judge and see how much preventive work has has taken place. (I will post photos from spots in and around Kalimpong where I live, but I am pretty much sure the story is the same elsewhere in the district.)
This is the first of the series:-
Tharpacholing Monastery, Tirpai -Kalimpong