Uttarakhand : Big danger like 1880 landslide hovering over Nainital city

Danger alarm is sounding in Sarovar city Nainital. Mining and arbitrary construction in the low-lying area from Raj Bhavan’s hill to Nihalnala has made the situation so bad that if concrete initiatives are not taken immediately, the entire city will be in danger.

In fact, landslides and cracks have started widening on other sensitive hills including Ballianala, China Peak, Tiffintop and Naina Peak as well as number seven. Due to this, the danger of the year 1980 has started looming here again. Then a large part of the Alma hill was absorbed in the lake, due to which 151 people including 43 British citizens were killed.

The British rulers tried to rebuild the city after this devastating landslide. But in the later days, bypassing their efforts, arbitrary construction, encroachment and mining started in the surrounding areas. This again caused a major landslide on the same Alma hill on 24 July. Many houses also came under its grip. The administration would have learned from this that landslides started on the Nainital-Bhowali road on Friday afternoon.

Geologist at Kumaun University Prof. According to BS Kotlia, in the year 2006, the state government accepted that the load capacity of Nainital is now exhausted. There should be no construction here. But even in 2022, fearless construction is going on here.

Nainital Lake is surrounded by hills on three sides. Naina Peak hill towards Mallital above, Ayarpata hill on one side, Sher ka Danda hill on other side and Ballia Nala towards Tallital below. In such a situation, landslides happening from all sides are not considered good for the existence of the city. So this is the important reason.

Pro. BS Kotlia believes that the incidents of landslides and landslides are coming to the fore due to the activation of the fault passing between Nainital and Naini Lake. In fact, there exists a large regional fault line from Jeolikot to Kunjkharak, which passes through the middle of Naini Lake near Balianale.

It is called Nainital fault. This fault or rift is the result of geological movements. Due to this, there are indications of this fault being active. Due to the shrinking or opening of this crack, incidents like landslides have increased rapidly. The increasing pressure of buildings in the city is also an important reason. Pro. Kotliya warned that if the townspeople still do not act, the consequences could be dire.

According to geologists, the movement of vehicles should be controlled on the Lower Mall Road of Nainital. Ban on construction works. Encroachment should be removed from the old 64 drains made for drainage from the hill. Expand the green belt. Mining was banned.