Calling into question the continuation of rock cutting work along Banihal- Ramban portion of Srinagar- Jammu National Highway, a high-level expert panel set up by the NHAI has come up with a slew of interim measures to minimise the threat of landslides which frequently shut the vital road.
In its report, the team comprising Dr RK Bhandari,ex-Director CSIR-Central Building Research Institute; Prof DN Singh, IndianInstitute of Technology, Bombay; and AK Srivastav, former Additional DirectorGeneral, Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, has called for an all-outeffort on war-footing to deal with the problem of landslides and meet “foreseenemergencies for keeping the highwayopen”.
The panel has suggested that that all surface drains acrossthe 36-kilometre Ramban–Banihal stretch, the portion where threat of activelandslides is “imminent”, should be made functional.
The committee has suggested that all locations of wateringression on the slopes into landslides must be attended to by diversion ofwater into natural drains and that all precariously perched debris should beremoved
It has also recommended constitution of a task force tocreate alerts, monitor the sites of active landslides and attend to theemergencies.
The panel has questioned the cutting work, which istriggering frequent landslides and rockslides on the highway. “Without goinginto the administrative, financial and legal aspects of the project, purelyfrom the professional angle, there are enough evidences to suggest that it istime to take the message delivered by new landslides . . . and question thewisdom of continuing with the cutting work, ” the report reads.
In its report, the expert committee states that problems onthe stretch could have been comprehended during the initial phase of construction.
“It is quite clear to the members of these committees thatthe problems staring us in the face could have been comprehended in the firstplace; the problematic stretch of the highway being located in an ecologicallyfragile terrain of highly disturbing landslide history over a period ofdecades. Even if the project had to be launched in view of its great nationalimportance and mounting demand, the problem we face now could have beencomprehended based on the slope failure and new landslides during the initialphase of construction,” the two-page report states.
The committee, which visited the vulnerable portion of thehighway on May 20, is expected to submit a detailed report soon with definiterecommendations.
Since November last year, the highway has remainedfrequently closed due to landslides and rockslides triggered among other thingsby the cutting work being carried out in Ramban –Banihal portion forfour-laning of Srinagar- Jammu National Highway.
The Centre and the State governments have come undercriticism from different quarters for failing to upkeep the vital highwayconnecting Kashmir with outer world.
The intermittent closure of the highway has led to shortageof essentials in the Valley.