The High Court of Uttarakhand has asked the petitioner to file a counter affidavit within three weeks to the affidavit filed by the State Government in a public interest litigation regarding the landslide at Baliyanala in Nainital.
The division bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice Ramesh Chandra Khulbe has also directed the Geological Survey of India to conduct a survey of the site.
In its affidavit, the State Government had stated that it had released Rs 2crore to the irrigation department and given the task of preparing the detailed project report to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to stop the landslide at Baliyanala. Those living within 500 metres along the affected area are also to be relocated, the Government stated.
However, the advocate for the petitioner objected to the affidavit averring that a sum of Rs 2 crore is inadequate for the required works, adding that the government is misleading the public.
High court advocate SN Khurshid had filed the PIL stating that landslides occurring at Baliyanala since 1973 were also threatening Nainital city. In the past many years, the Government has spent crores of rupees on works to treat the landslide but the efficacy of the departmental works have been exposed by the dangerous situation at the site now, the petitioner averred.
