Landslides pose threat to Gaggal airport strip

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, August 23

Landslides triggered by heavy rains in Kangra have posed a threat to the Gaggal airport strip.

Dr AK Mahajan, Head of the Department of Environment Science and a former geological expert from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology at Dehradun, said: “The fragile hill on which the Gaggal airport was located witnessed landslides and was being treated unscientifically.”

The authorities concerned have been removing the muck generated by landslides near the airport. This was an unscientific approach and was exposing the remaining portion of the hill to landslides. He said the authorities concerned should not remove the muck generated due to landslides near the airport hill during monsoons. This saves the remaining hill for erosion. Besides, a proper drainage system to channelise the water flow from the hill was the only solution to save the hill from landslides, Dr Mahajan said.

He said landslides had been caused by unscientific cutting of hills at many places in the region. He said a hill had been cut by a private property owner near Sakoh, creating a permanent passage for water from the entire hill. The hill would continue witnessing landslides in the coming years wherever there was heavy rain in the region. The area in question has already witnessed three major landslides in the last two months and blocked traffic on the Dharamsala-Gaggal state highway.

Dr Mahajan has also questioned the way retaining walls had been constructed by the PWD authorities at many places along the roads to prevent landslides. He said at many places the designs of the retaining wall were faulty and despite having spent lakhs of rupees on them, the structures could not prevent landslides.

He said the retaining walls had no provision of drainage. This increases the chances of soil erosion and also the threat of landslides, he said. The scientific study conducted by Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology had put many zones in Dharamsala, including Tirah Lines, Barakoti, Kajlot, Jogiwara, Dhial, Gamru and Chohla under the category of active sliding zones.

However, all these areas now have multi-storey buildings and are thickly populated. Like Tirah lines, these areas could also witness landslides. Two of these places have already witnessed major landslides. In Tirah Line, an entire village sunk and people had to be shifted elsewhere last year. In Chohla village, many houses were damaged due to landslides in the last two years.

A study states that Dharamsala is located between two major thrusts. These tectonic thrusts have developed number of splays that cause a lot of tectonic material in the area. Due to tectonic movement, rocks in Dharamsala are highly deformed, folded and fractured. The fracturing of rocks and presence of loose material coupled with high seepage leads to landslide in the region. However despite having solid scientific data, the authorities concerned have failed to stop constructions in landslide-prone areas.