Uttara Kannada's landslide mitigation proposal receives lukewarm response

Hubballi: In the last couple of days, Uttara Kannada district has reported at least three landslides, including one at the mouth of a tunnel on National Highway 66 near Karwar on Friday.

With copious rains lashing the district there is a fear of more such landslides in the future.

However, a proposal sent by the district administration to take up landslide prevention measures at 98 most vulnerable spots to the central government has not received any response in the last eight months. The proposal has estimated a cost of Rs 102 crore.

Following the devastating landslide at Shirur village near Ankola in July last year that killed nine people, the Union government had written a letter to the state government and district administration to form a Landslide Mitigation Action Plan Committee consisting of experts to identify most vulnerable landslide spots in the district, and preventive measures that can be taken to prevent it.

Based on the instructions, the district administration in consultation with Geological Society of India, National Institute of Rock Mechanics and various engineering departments of the administration had identified 98 such locations, including areas next to hospitals, houses, schools and others that need urgent retention walls, drainages and others to reduce the impact of landslides.

“Uttara Kannada district has nearly 439 landslide vulnerable spots. Based on the experts committee, which visited the majority of these spots, we identified 98 locations that need immediate attention to prevent any loss of life or property,” said Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner Lakshmipriya K.

According to the documents available with DH, the committee had submitted the proposal to the State and Central government in September 2024. “So far we haven't received any funds,” she added.

As a stop-gap measure the district administration has appointed 220 spotters consisting of forest department personnel, gram panchayat members and revenue department staff to monitor all the vulnerable spots during the rainy days and inform administration in case of any geological changes in the area.

“We're getting real-time inputs on rainfall. We've also asked the National Highway Authority of India officials to monitor the 19 locations that are susceptible to landslide. Parking or halting at these locations has been banned. We are also clearing encroachment at these locations,” said Lakshmipriya.

Based on the historical data, the state government has identified 1,351 villages in seven districts of Coastal and Malnad region that could be affected by landslides.

Sources in Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) informed DH that a proposal of Rs 110 crore to take up landslide mitigation measures has been sent to Central government and the details are also available with State government however, no action has been initiated as of now.

“Based on experts’ recommendation and scrutinisation of works, we sent a proposal of Rs 110 crore to the central government. So far, we haven't heard from them," said KSNDMC Commissioner Hasanamba.