Arresting the slide: No steps taken to check sinking in Himachal Pradesh's Shamti

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, October 27

Residents of Shamti, Kothon and Sanhol areas in Solan district are waiting for the government to take steps to check land subsidence. On July 10, a 500-metre hill had eroded here after heavy rains, damaging 80 houses.

Mounds of debris

Mounds of debris are lying behind our house. If not removed, the debris can damage nearby buildings.

Monika Bali, a resident of Shamti

Around 30 houses were damaged completely and 50 partially, affecting around 108 families in the area. Though the administration has banned major construction work in the area, little has been done to check further damage. Residents were forced to shift to rented accommodations. They rued that despite constitution of a committee on demolition of unsafe buildings and removal of debris in July, no restoration step had been taken so far.

In a bid to protect the houses on the hillside, the Public Works Department (PWD) had suggested a slew of measures to contain further landslides. A project report was submitted by the PWD to the district administration, seeking Rs 7.47 crore for slope stablisation measures.

“Measures like rock bolting and shotcrete are usually adopted to stabilise a slope. Bio-engineering techniques like coir geotextile and grass plantation as per the site conditions can be adopted to contain further damage in the Shamti area,” said Ravi Bhatti, Executive Engineer, PWD, Solan. He said no funds had been received so far for the restoration work.

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