The Uttarakhand High Court has disposed of the public interest litigation regarding landslide in the Baliyanala in Nainital. Hearing the PIL, the division bench of chief justice Ritu Bahri and justice Rakesh Thapliyal stated that the petitioner can inform the court through an application if he finds gaps in the quality of the treatment work in the affected area.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the State government informed the court that tenders have been floated and the treatment work has been started in Baliyianala.

It will be recalled that Nainital resident advocate  Saiyad Nadeem Moon had filed the PIL in the High Court in 2018, stating that the landslide in Baliyanala- considered to the base of Nainital town- could pose a serious threat to the residents of Nainital and nearby areas. The petitioner had sought concrete measures to treat and check the Baliyanala landslide to protect Nainital and its residents. He had further contended that since 2018, the government’s executing agency had not considered the interests of the local people. People living in the Baliyanala area are shifted to other places during the rains, he stated. Moon had further stated that following the 2018 PIL, the government conducted a survey of the affected area on the orders of the court but did little as far as actual treatment of the landslide affected area was concerned. On Tuesday, with the government stating that it had started treatment of the affected area, the PIL was disposed of by the High Court.