Landslide-hit village in Tehri to be relocated permanently

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami [Photo:ANI]


The Uttarakhand government will permanently relocate the devastated Tingarh Village and the Budhakedar area villagers in the district Tehri where a mother and a daughter were buried under the landslide triggered by heavy rains two days ago.

More than 50-60 families from the affected villages have been moved to temporary shelters after an entire area came within the reach of the landslide on Saturday.

Senior government officials informed that all the families shifted to the shelter homes would be relocated permanently to alternate places as the process is on to find safer sites for their rehabilitation.

As per the officials, Tehri district administration has sent the proposal for their relocation to safe places as their present place of living at Tingarh village was unsafe and landslide prone.

State Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman informed that the “proposal for relocation of the affected villages is being readied and sent to the government by the district administration. As soon as the government receives it further process will begin. However, the rehabilitation of bigger scales takes time as the shifting plan for many other disaster-prone villages in the hills are in pipeline.”

“All the houses in Tingarh village and nearby Budhakedar area were evacuated following reports that the entire area was in the lap of a landslide. People affected by the landslide on Saturday have been shifted to safer places and the administration is providing all possible facilities to them,” Suman added.

It’s notable that a mother-daughter duo died on Saturday as they were trapped under a landslide owing to continued heavy rains in the region.

Meanwhile, Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey deployed by the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to get ground report of the disaster affected village said “Geological survey has been done for the rehabilitation of Tingarh village and in-principle approval has been received.”

Pandey directed the district magistrate to form a joint team of the villagers and local government officials for chalking out rehabilitation plans of Tingarh village and identification of alternate lands for relocation of the evacuated villages.” He asked the officials to rehabilitate people as per availability of the land.

According to Pandey, a separate action plan will be hammered out for the rehabilitation of Toli village and other areas located in disaster-prone areas, in the second phase.

He asked the district administration to identify five alternate places and build shelters for the cattle, shift animals as per their carrying capacities and make proper arrangements for their fodder and water.