Sneha Kinetic surge shaft pours out a slide

MANGAN, 14 May: The accompanying photograph is not of the one of many ‘natural’ landslides which litter Sikkim’s slopes and hills, but is evidence of a manmade, or rather ‘project-triggered’, slide of excavated muck irresponsibly dumped. This is the under construction 96M W Dikchu Hydro-electric Power project site at surge shaft below Ramthang village in North Sikkim.
Project developer, Sneha Kinetic Power Project, is allowing excavated muck to slither down, snowballing into a major slide, imperiling the village across the Dikchu Khola. The river marks the district boundary and while the work is underway in North Sikkim, villages on the left bank, East Sikkim, have to suffer the risk of shooting stones [due to blasting works], extensive dust [on dry days] and enormous slush when it rains.
The people of Lower Rakdong, 12th Mile, and Raidang villages have been complaining of the unhealthy volumes of fine dust which settles on their homes nowadays and complain that the project developer’s recklessness was even constricting the flow of the river. As the water starts hitting the left bank harder [because of obstructions on the right bank], villages on the left bank are fearing increased scouring below them.
As the villagers watch the much roil away larger slopes and tear down trees, they wonder why the Forest Department is not taking any action, pointing out that even remote villages know that excavated muck needs to be dumped at earmarked locations and cannot be allowed to slip away so irresponsibly.