Meeting discusses mitigation strategies for Lumsey landslide

GANGTOK,: A meeting on mitigation strategies for landslide at Lumsey area of Gangtok was held at the conference hall of Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority, today.

On the directions of Chief Minister, the meeting was organised under the chairmanship of Tadong MLA G.T. Dhungel and had the representation of heads Urban Development, Water Resources, Power, Mines and Geology, Roads & Bridges and Forest departments, Gangtok District Collectorate and Gangtok Municipal Corporation along with the councillor and project coordinator of Mangan mitigation project.

The meeting commenced with welcome address by Land Revenue & Disaster Management secretary and relief commissioner where he welcomed the chairman of the meeting and the representatives of the departments and agencies. He highlighted the presence of senior officers in the meeting showed the commitment of the departments to find a possible solution to the landslide problem at Lumsey area.

SSDMA additional director Rajib Roka briefed the attendees on the objective of the meeting and highlighted the importance as has been emphasized by the Chief Minister to find possible solution to the landslide problem at Lumsey area.

Gangtok collector Regul K. gave a brief report on the inspection of the affected area with release of immediate ex-gratia payments to the affected people. Mines and Geology joint director K.K. Luitel gave the report on preliminary geological observation of the area and further informed that extensive study report will be shared with Land Revenue & Disaster Management department on September 1. The Mangan Landslide Mitigation project coordinator gave a detailed presentation on the Mangan landslide mitigation project and informed the house that similar extensive study should be undertaken at Lumsey area with the involvement of multilateral agencies.

SSDMA director Prabhakar Rai highlighted on the technical guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on fund allocation and norms of usage. He suggested that the vulnerable areas should be declared as no construction zone to identify the area as affected by a state level Disaster. He further informed that as per the disaster mitigation norms an appraisal committee would inspect the area along with technical team and detailed project report will be formulated and sent to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

MLA G.T. Dhungel, in his address, thanked all the departments for their active participation and directed them to put words into action. He emphasized that the State government is committed to reduce risks of the people and is working towards finding long term mitigation plans. The house agreed that line departments will provide initial inputs by August 18 and after receiving the report from Mines and Geology department, a final report will be presented.

In the meantime, nodal officers, specifically for Lumsey mitigation, were appointed from the line departments. The final report from SSDMA will be prepared by September 9. It was informed that the next meeting will be held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister.