Preventing Landslides
THE movement of vehicles along a
one-kilometre stretch of the Arniko Highway, as per a news item carried by this daily the
other day, is being hampered due to landslides triggered at the Hindi, Daklang
Phulpikattia and Gati VDCs, three of the many village development committees being
serviced by the same highway, by this year’s torrential monsoon rains. The monsoon
season, for a topographically challenged agrarian nation like Nepal, is both a boon and a
curse. A boon in that the monsoon rains greatly facilitate the millions of small farmers
to plant their major crops like paddy and millet. On the flip side, the monsoon rains are
also notoriously known for triggering landslips in the mountains, hills and valleys. And
worse still, along trails and highways that assist in the smooth flow of people and goods
from one place to another. Concerning monsoon-induced landslides, with the nation and the
people yet to experience the full onslaught of the yearly monsoon rains, we could be
hearing of more such news in the days to come. And, with them, reports of impediment in
the movement of people and goods from one area to another area. As and when such obstacles
do occur, the nation is bound to be the ultimate loser. For, landslips, tend to bring
about unwanted breaks in the efforts of the various agencies charged with carrying out and
expediting development works in the far-flung areas of the nation.
Undoubtedly, preventing landslips along the
major highways is a challenging proposition for a mountainous nation like Nepal. But this
does not absolve the concerned authorities from not exploring all available avenues to
come up with measures to prevent landslips along the major highways. Regarding such steps,
the concerned authorities, with the valuable experiences they have had garnered from
constructing highways, should have fine-tuned them by now. The more so when it has become
mandatory on the part of all to carry out an exhaustive environment-impact assessment
before launching any major road construction project. Conceded, some highways were built
long before such a stipulate became mandatory. But then, what about the landslips still
taking place along highways built after the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) rocedure
came into effect? Hence, if the nation’s development endeavours are not to be stalled
by landslips, the concerned authorities need to scrupulously implement the findings of all
such environment-impact assessment studies.
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