Bear still feared at large at Swastik

GANGTOK, 10 Dec: The bear, which mauled a BRO employee here last week, is feared to still be at large up in the BRO campus at Swastik, stretching from the Burtuk area to the Selep Tank area above, and this has got the people living up there all rattled. On 07 December, a BRO supervisor was mauled by a Himalayan Black Bear in the compound near Selep water reservoir and is still recovering from his injuries at the STNM hospital. The bear meanwhile has neither been captured nor does it appear inclined to return to the jungles above.
BRO officials contend that there have been regular sightings of the bear especially in the evenings in the campus. As informed, the bear has been lurking around the family quarters of the GREF and BRO officials at Swastik and this has terrified the families staying there. The people there are now required to be on alert and extra cautious while venturing out, especially in the evenings. The bear attack had however occurred at around 9 in the morning.
While officials of the Forest and Wildlife Department had claimed that there would be efforts to capture the animal or ensure that it retreated to the forest area, the residents of the area claim that while Forest officials were in the area on the day of the attack, none have been seen since.
In this regard BRO has requested the concerned agency to look into their problem, it is informed.
Soon after the bear had attacked the BRO labour supervisor a team of Forest department had rushed to the spot with a cage, tranquilizers and other required equipment. The people residing in the area had also been sensitized and alerted against allowing children out late in the evening. That said, there are several people residing up at the Swastik and Selep Tanki area who return home from work late at night and are vulnerable to attacks if the animal is still there.

Bear attack near Selep Tanki

GANGTOK, 07 Dec: A bear attack has been reported from the GREF Camp here below Selep Tank, the reservoir for Gangtok’s water supply.
A person working with the BRO was attacked by a Himalayan Black Bear this morning at around 9:30 AM at the boundary of the Reserve Forest near the BRO camp in the Swastik area. The victim fortunately escaped with his life. A bear attack had ended in a fatality in North Sikkim recently, it may be recalled.
Only sketchy information is at hand, but from what is available, it appears that the bear attacked the victim from the back and fled after taking a swipe. The victim has suffered injuries to his head and arm, it is learnt and is currently under treatment at the STNM Hospital here.
The victim, reportedly a labour supervisor with BRO/ GREF, was in the area to check on a compound fencing work underway there, it is learnt.
Soon after the incident was reported, a team from the Forest Department, led by the DFO Wildlife [East], Ravi Kumar reached the spot at around 10 AM with a cage, tranquilizers and other equipment required to catch the bear. The team, however, could not locate the animal.
The DFO informed that the team tried its best to find the animal and undertook an extensive combing operation but could not locate it. Meanwhile, the Forest Department team has alerted and sensitized people in the area about the animal through loud speakers.
“Continuous patrolling by Forest personnel is underway and the people have also been asked to immediately inform the department if they spot the animal in the area. We are fully prepared to handle the situation,” he assured.
According to the DFO, bears move around in search of food at this time of the year as they prepare to go into hibernation.
He further said that people living on the fringes of forest area should be especially alert and added that the Department had organized an awareness programme on the same subject some months ago as well.

Taps run murky as main filter at Selep undergoes repairs

Construction of an additional reservoir underway at Selep water reservoir complex above Gangtok.

ENGINEERS DEPLOY ALTERNATE MEANS TO TREAT RAW WATER; NEW FILTER AND RESERVOIR UNDER CONSTRUCTION TO SUPPLEMENT STORAGE; NEW PIPELINE BEING LAID AS WELL

ANAND OBEROI
GANGTOK, 07 Aug: Gantgtokians would have been wondering why the water was running murky in the taps, sometimes full of silt and by the looks of it, unsuitable for consumption. The reason is that one of the two water purification filters at Selep Tanki has ‘choked’. Although the filter is under repairs, it will still take a few more weeks before it is fully functionally again. Fortunately, this is not the only filter at the Selep Tank, there is another, though smaller, which is fully functional and is being employed for treatment of water before it is forwarded to Gangtok homes.
The filter which is under repairs is the larger one with capacity to filter 20 million litres per day while the other one has a capacity of only 4 million litres per day (mld).
It is also informed that Gangtok and the Selep tank will be incremented with another water filter of capacity 21 mld which is under construction. Besides, a new reservoir is also under construction at the Selep tank for water storage to meet the enhanced needs of water requirements in the capital town.
It may be informed that there are two slow-sand filters that purify the raw water coming directly from the source at Ratey Chu to drinking water which is then supplied to the estimated sixty thousand households in Gangtok. The two purifiers have a capacity to treat 32 million liters per day (MLD) which is then stored in the reservoir at Selep Tank which has a capacity of 36 MLD.
Everyday, 15 lakh litres of drinking water is supplied at a rate of 135 litres per head to Gangtok alone. Now, with the major filter that has a capacity to treat 21 MLD per day not functioning, the entire supply is now being channeled through the only functional filter that only has a capacity to treat 4 MLD per day.
With only one purifying filter, the PHE has no option but to treat the raw water for harmful bacteria (that comes in at 100 cubic meters per hour) at the main supply tank through chlorination, use of alumen and other temporary means that reduces the siltation before the water is supplied to households.
With the lower capacity filter the only one functioning at present it would be expected that there would be shortage of water in Gangtok but the department has managed to maintain consistent supply with the discharge of water stored in the reservoirs.
“There can be health implications if raw water is consumed directly, but we are doing the best to treat the water before it is sent to the reservoir from where the supply lines carry it to the households. There might be some instances when the water could be murky and contain silt; however that does not mean that it has been sent directly from the source. We know that the only functioning filter does not have the capacity to treat the entire supply but we have devised a plan and an alternative in place,” states an official here.
It is also intimated that the general public have nothing to be seriously worried; however some precautions before the water is consumed should be maintained since the water is mostly being treated only for turbulence. Further, the officials inform that work on the restoration of the filter was started around two months back under the total renovation of Selep project estimated at around Rs. 31 crore.
“The work on the filter is in full progress and will be completed within a month since even the back-wash system required to be dismantled first before repairs. We have also started work on another water purification filter that has a capacity of 21 MLD which will also be completed within a year. The delay in the works was because there was no separate funding for the purification system and the same was included in the total renovation package,” stated the official.
In addition, it is also informed that the department has started work on the two main water supply pipe lines from Ratey Chu which were laid in 1973. This as per the officials will be a ‘permanent solution’ for the water supply crisis the capital has to face because of heavy rainfall, landslides and heavy soil erosion up source.
It was also informed that even with PHE manpower working at these trouble spots where pipelines are laid at extremely steep slopes the option of creating a tunnel for the pipelines has also been discussed with the Mines and Geology Department.