Malpa village swamped by debris, revival bleak

Pithoragarh, August 18

With tonnes of debris swamping Malpa village in the wake of the August 14 landslides that killed five persons and left more than 20 missing, revival of the place and resumption of human habitation there looks nearly impossible, according to an official who took stock of the situationthere.

“The huge volume of debri there is almost impossible to dispose of making human habitation in future extremely unlikely,” Ashish Chauhan, Chief Development Officer of Pithoragarh, said on his return from the affected village today.

Landslides triggered by a cloudburst at Malpa on August 14 killed five persons besides leaving 20 villagers and hotel owners missing who remain untraced despite a search operation by the SDRF, ITBP, SSB and state police still under way.

Malpa village had served for years as a midway camp for Mansarovar pilgrims until 1998 when a huge catastrophe obliterated it.

The 1998 tragedy in Malpa had killed over 255 people, including 55 Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims.Malpa, which served as the mini camp on the trek route to Vyas valley, some 55 km from Dharchula town, wore a deserted look before it was brought to life by Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam as a midway camp for Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims when the pilgrimage resumed in 1981.“Before we started camping batches of pilgrims at Malpa, it was a village of 50 families with a mini market, residential facilities and eateries for the villagers or shepherds who used to rest there while crossing to and from Vyas valley,” D K Sharma, KMVN official, said. — PTI