Experts opine that man-made activities induced a massive landslide on Tuesday morning in Sikkim's Balutar destroying the power station of 510 MW Teesta Stage 5 dam and weather did not play any immediate role. Balutar is 20 km southwest of the capital city Gangtok.
A major chunk of the adjacent hills slid over the NHPC’s power station. The Stage 5 dam has been defunct after last year’s catastrophic Lhonak Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in October 2024.
Experts feel last year's catastrophic tragedy which killed hundreds of people including army personnel and washed away vehicles and properties still reverberates through the region.
Reports suggest that there had been continuous incidents of minor slides of stones, and soil in the hills. Sources who visited the landslide site said there is a possibility that NHPC's massive construction work after last year's destruction might have destabilised the adjacent hills.
“Weather did not play any role in it as there was not much rainfall in the past two weeks,” said a source.
The Met Centre Gangtok of the Indian Meteorological Department's daily and weekly rainfall data shows that the region hasn’t received much rainfall since August 8.
Between August 8-14, there was 42% deficient rainfall. Notably, between August 15-20, there was also huge deficient rainfall ranging from 58% to 88%. However, on 19 August there was 38 mm of rainfall reported which is 100% more than normal.
“Except on August 19, the area received deficient rainfall in the past two weeks,” Dr GN Raha, a scientist at Met Centre Gangtok told the TNIE. “Currently, we do not find any role of extreme weather incidents in this landslide,” he further said.
The Nagaland University scientist Dr Manasi Debnath analysed the satellite images of the landslide site and highlighted the role of manmade reasons and not extreme weather events behind the event.
“There was no presence of vegetation over the slid hills. The hill slope is inclined to more than 45 degrees showing the possibility of high soil erosion due to manmade activities (including NHPCs construction work) from both sides caused pressure over fragile phyllite stone” said Debnath who is researching GLOF in Sikkim.
Besides, Debnath also underlined huge rainfall in the region in June and July would have also possibly triggered seepage through porous phyllite stone. It would have loosened the soil in the region which unsuitable for huge construction activities.
