Unchecked hill cutting, devp behind land sinking in Jammu region: Experts
While heavy to very heavy rains in August this year left a trail of destruction in Jammu, subsequent incidents of land sinking in Reasi, Poonch, Ramban and Doda districts forced hundreds to flee their homes
Following incidents of land sinking in the Jammu region post- August downpour, experts have cautioned that the eco-fragile Himalayan terrain cannot withstand the unchecked hill cutting and tree felling and have advised to opt for the scientific studies to minimise the damage.
“Don’t simply cut the mountains and trees. Instead, make arterial roads elevated in and along the rivers and tunnels after scientific studies to minimize damage,” said prof GM Bhat, former head of the geology department at University of Jammu.
While heavy to very heavy rains in August this year left a trail of destruction in Jammu, subsequent incidents of land sinking in Reasi, Poonch, Ramban and Doda districts forced hundreds to flee their homes.
Prof Bhat strongly felt that unplanned construction of highways, tunnels and dams without any serious scientific research will unleash more destruction in the upcoming years.
“Simply don’t cut the hills. Lay bridges in and along rivers to make arterial roads and dig tunnels. Cutting hills weakens soil cohesion and any prolonged spell of rain makes them vulnerable to start sinking,” he said.
He attributed these incidents to unplanned development, especially south of Chenab River, which primarily features brown hill soils on sandstone and shale besides presence of alternately hard rocks, along with alluvial soils in the river’s plains.
“This entire lithology south of Chenab is water sensitive. It can absorb 36 hours of slow incessant rains but thereafter it becomes unstable due to soil saturation and eventually it develops pressure on critical points that that take no time to start sliding,” he said.
“Rains happened in the past and will happen again but the scale of devastation is alarming and widespread. What we humans did in the past 100 years has caused serious damage to the environment in the region,” said prof Bhat.
“Unplanned development for roads and tunnels, rampant cutting of mountains and trees, hydro-electric projects over Chenab and jungles of concrete have started taking a toll on us,” he added.
He advised the government to conduct serious scientific studies before embarking on development projects, giving example of how the how the authorities successfully made arterial roads on elevated pillars along Chenab River in Ramban.
Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, IMD Director at Srinagar, attributed heavy to very heavy rainfall across Jammu region in August this year to a combination of two weather systems--above normal monsoon this year and western disturbance that sat over Jammu for almost a month.
“The interaction of two weather systems over Jammu and Chenab Valley caused heavy to very heavy rainfall, like what we witnessed in Kashmir in 2014,” he said.
“Since J&K is a Himalayan region, hills here are always vulnerable to landslides and the heavy downpour caused landslip. Our hills are not stable probably due to increased development projects,” he said.
According to an estimate, nearly 3,000 people have been displaced in recent incidents of landslip in Ramban Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi, Doda and Kishtwar districts.
