Most landslides in Manipur caused by human interventions, say experts
Experts stressed there was an urgent need to classify high-landslide prone regions and update the reviews every decade
New Delhi: Every year, during the monsoon, landslides claim a number of lives and cause huge damage to property across the country and especially in hilly regions. This time, it was no different.
Recently, landslides in rain-battered Kerala have left a trail of destruction, while in Manipur a massive landslip killed nine people last month. The northeastern state has witnessed six major landslides since May.
The hill state of Himanchal Pradesh was also hit and in Uttarakhand, a number of pilgrims during the Kailash Mansarovar and the Kanwar yatras were left stranded due to landslides.
The Environment Ministry has indicated that most landslides in the state were “anthropogenically” induced and caused due to a host of reasons, including construction and widening of roads.
Experts stressed that there was an urgent need to clearly classify high-landslide prone regions and to update the reviews every decade.
Manipur witnessed six massive landslides in 2018, three in 2017, one in 2015 and four in 2010, according to the data provided by the ministry for the state. Triggered by heavy rains, the massive landslide on July 11 claimed nine lives in Tamenglong district.
“Landslides in environmentally sensitive hilly areas occur frequently during monsoon in the state. Studies have indicated that landslides in Manipur are mostly anthropogenically induced, caused as a result of modification of slopes for construction, widening of road, quarrying for the construction materials, fragile lithology, complex geological structures and heavy rainfall,” Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Environment, said in the Rajya Sabha on August 6.
The weathered sedimentary (shale) rocks of Disang formation and thick loose overburden deposits on valley dipping slopes cause the most vulnerability, he said.
Experts also stressed on the need to understand that deforestation, blasting, tunnelling and encroachments on drainage systems increased the potential for landslides.
Landslide efforts
In his reply, Sharma had also said that the government promotes and supports research studies relating to landslides with remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based mapping for proper management of landslide-sensitive zones.
He pointed out that the Geological Survey of India (GSI) was actively engaged in carrying out landslide inventory mapping, and national landslide susceptibility mapping (NLSM).
In addition, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the Home Ministry has conceptualised an umbrella pilot scheme — Landslide Risk Mitigation Scheme (LRMS) — to demonstrate benefits of landslide mitigation measures under a centre-sponsored scheme for providing financial support to states, including Manipur, for disaster preparedness and mitigation, the minister said.
Talking to PTI, an expert in this field pointed out that there is a need to realise that the entire Himalayan region and some hilly areas in the Western Ghats and elsewhere are inherently landslide prone.
“Deforestation, blasting, tunnelling, encroachments on drainage systems, including rivers and streams, on the hill slides, etc definitely increase the landslide potential,” Himanshu Thakkar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), said. The impact should be assessed whenever any major interventions, in terms of roads, dams, hydropower projects, tunnels, blasting, deforestation, mining, are made in landslide prone areas.
