Landslide at Lower Burtuk, 2 families relocated

UNSETTLED AT SERENITY HOME: The slide, its starting point covered in tarpaulin, which has started tugging away at the Serenity Home in Lower Burtuk and already forced the evacuation of two nearby families.

LOCALS BLAME “CARELESS” JHORA TRAINING AS ONE OF THE CAUSES


ANAND OBEROI
GANGTOK, 17 June: Two families have been relocated after a major landslide tore away an approximately  50x40 sq feet plot of land that supports around 50 houses and buildings above Gurung basti below Manbir Colony in Lower Burtuk at around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. The crash of the landslide was so loud that it woke up the entire area and panic grew as the rain refused to let up yesterday.
The displaced families are those of Ugen Tamang and his neighbor, Sita Sharma, a widow who lives with her only son. Both families have shifted to safer locations. The damage was mainly to the office and other adjoining structures of the Serenity Home rehabilitation and detoxification centre here. With the approach footpath also taken away by the slide, negotiating a way to areas below and around the slide zone now presents a risky proposition.
“I was asleep when the noise of the slide woke me up. I and my son ran outside and moved to higher ground to save ourselves. We thought that our entire house will be swept away but fortunately that did not happen and only the office structure of the rehab and the gates were all gone. We were totally helpless till the boys from the rehab came to our assistance,” informed Sita Sharma, still in a state of shock, as she recalled the episode.
Residents of the area are convinced that as much as the slide was an act of nature, the careless construction and jhora training works done by a private contractor under the Irrigation Department on the main jhora contributed to the slide.
Initially estimated at around Rs 6 crore, the structure has developed severe cracks and water is continuously seeping away, eroding away an already sinking zone.
Trying to recover some important documents from the debris at the base of the slide which is still unstable, Uday C Rai, Founder, Serenity Home that houses around 25 patients along with residential staff, informed that even if the slide did not claim human casualties, the damage had already been done since the area where the slide has occurred is supporting a huge load below the main Bye-pass road.
“I was a working in the office in the morning when one of my friends called me out as he could see mud slipping from the previous day’s slide (a minor slide was reported to have started at the same spot on Friday afternoon itself). It was drizzling outside and as soon as I was out in the open the entire land and structure gave way after a huge bang. It was just that call from my friend that saved my life,” recalls Pempa Rapgyal, Counselor, Serenity Home.
Members of the displaced families and locals of the area while showing NOW! the damage caused by the seepage of water through the heavily cracked and damaged jhora, informed that officials from the district administration’s disaster management cell led by the DPO had also arrived on the spot with rescue workers and after evacuation had also helped cover most of the accessible areas of the slide with tarpaulin sheets.
The affected families have been assured quick relief packages and measures for reconstruction of pucca houses after a detailed study, it is informed.
“We want a permanent solution to this problem as now the water seeping from the jhora poses a big threat for the other structures below the main road. We have also learned that the Irrigation department has still not completed the tendered work and with the state of things here, a major disaster could occur any time,” stated irate locals.
It was also informed that engineers from the Irrigation department had also visited the spot and assured that ‘temporary’ restoration works would be carried out as soon as the DPR is prepared. Locals state that the department representatives had said that the lack of budgetary provisions had tied down the department to take up any ‘permanent’ reconstruction and reinforcement works at the site of the slide.
Similarly, engineers and officials of the UD&HD along with the Burtuk Councilor also visited the area wherein the department officials assured a ‘permanent’ solution by way of reinforcement and training of the landslide.
However, the locals who are now suffering sleepless nights, want ‘something’ to be done fast, before the full fury of the monsoons unleashes over the capital. “Bureaucratic red-tape should not delay urgently required works,” said Neelu Chettri, a resident of the area.