Workshop held on technology for tackling landslide

| | Dehradun
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Workshop held on technology for tackling landslide

Tuesday, 25 September 2018 | PNS | Dehradun

Expressing concern over increasing dependence on engineering solutions and excessive use of cement and concrete for stabilising the slopes in the mountains, noted environmentalist Anil Prakash Joshi stressed on the importance of green technologies for landslide mitigation and prevention.

He was speaking as the special guest at a workshop on use of technology for reducing landslide induced losses  organised jointly by the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority and Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC). Disaster management secretary Amit Singh Negi presided over the workshop.

Joshi also stressed on the urgent need to focus on scientific disposal of huge quantities of debris generated during any construction work in the mountains, particularly in the construction of roads. He said that the debris so generated should be prevented from rolling down and reaching the river beds and reservoirs which according to him could jeopardise water security in the mountains.

He called upon the scientific community to devise means and tools of utilising the debris productively. This, he added would solve issues related to building material availability in the mountains and also help in protecting and conserving the environment. He further said that disasters mainly affect the poor and marginalised people living in remote mountainous regions and not the well off people living in urban centres. Because of this the political leadership does not accord high priority to addressing disaster risk reduction related issues, he opined.Speaking on the occasion, the DMMC executive director Piyoosh Rautela said that despite landslides in the region being attributed to anthropogenic interventions, particularly by environmentalists, landslide is a normal landscape forming geomorphic process that is part and parcel of any mountainous terrain.

He said that the region has always been facing the fury of landslides and despite best efforts it is not possible to completely arrest this process. Despite landslide being a major concern for the states in the Himalayan region and the Ghats there is no institution that has the responsibility of studying these.

Scientists in some institutions are working on landslide related issues but this is not the sole responsibility of these institutions. The problem of landslides is therefore not being addressed holistically, observed Rautela. He expressed hope that the proposal under consideration in the Ministry of Steel and Mines materialises and the institute for addressing this important issue is created.

Geological Survey of India, Kolkata, director Pankaj Agarwal informed about the progress made under National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping project of GSI. He also informed about the initiative of GSI whereby masses are being involved in rainfall monitoring and generating warning and said that similar initiatives would be taken up in Uttarakhand as well with the support of DMMC and other stakeholders.

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