Lok Sabha Question No. 2763 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-05-11
Subject: Creation of Landslide Compendium
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: RATTAN LAL KATARIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2763 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016

## Creation of Landslide Compendium

## 2763. SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there are reports that large tracks of mountains are unstable in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  Geological  Survey  of  India  (GSI)  has  launched  a  project  to create a landslide compendium for north western Himalayas and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) whether GSI has recently created a cell for geo-hazards research and management  to  implement  this  programme  in  collaboration  with  the concerned landslide prone regions of the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

(SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)

- (a) Yes Madam.  Landslides are a common geomorphic hazards in all these three Himalayan states which is generally triggered by heavy rainfall in almost every year and also often by  major  earthquakes in  this  active Himalayan Fold-Thrust-Belt. Available landslide susceptibility and inventory maps along important pilgrimage routes, road-corridors, river basins  and  site-specific  large  scale  (1:2000  or  larger)  landslide  maps have  already  revealed  that  within  these  Himalayan  states,  parts  of many  mountainous  tracts  and  locations  are  highly  vulnerable  and susceptible  to  landslides  or  has  already  failed  because  of  active landsliding.

The highly unstable zones studied by Geological Survey of India (GSI) in Uttarakhand,  Himachal  Pradesh  and  Jammu  &  Kashmir  are  given  in Annexure-I.

- (b) Yes Madam. GSI has launched a two-year project to create a landslide compendium  for  north  western  Himalayas.  The  project  started  on  1 April, 2014. The details of project outcome are given below.
-  The compendium includes all major landslide studies carried out by GSI  till  2013  in  the  NW  Himalayas  in  the  States  of  Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
-  The type of information included in the compendium  are  (i) Landslide  Susceptibility  Maps  on  scale  1:50,000  covering  parts  of river basins such as Ramganga, Ganga, Yamuna, Bhagirathi, Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab river basin etc; (ii) Landslide Susceptibility Maps on  scale  1:50,000/25,000/10,000  covering  major  towns  such  as Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Joshimath, Vaishno Devi, Ranikhet, Shimla etc;  (iii)  Landslide  Susceptibility  Maps  on  scale  1:50,000  covering important pilgrimage road corridors such as Yamunotri yatra route, Gangotri  yatra  route,  Kedarnath-Badrinath  yatra  route,  KailashMansarovar  yatra  route,  Harkidun  road,  Narkanda-Rampur-Khab Road, Kangra-Dharmshala-Sihunta-Dalhousie Road, Kalka-Shimla Narrow  Gauge  Railway  Route,  Arakot-Rohru-Narkanda-Theog-ChailSolan Road etc; (iv) site specific landslide investigations including detailed geological maps; (v) post disaster reconnoitary geological assessment  of  major  landslide  events  including  the  recent  2013 Uttarakhand  Disaster;  and  (vi)  inventory  of  major  landslides  in  a tabular form.
- (c) Yes Madam. In August 2013 GSI has created a Geohazards Research & Management  (GHRM)  Cell  in  Kolkata.  The  project  for  creation  of  a landslide  compendium  for  north  western  Himalayas  is  taken  up  by GHRM Cell in collaboration with GSI, Northern Region. The details are as given below.
- The GHRM Cell has been created following the recommendation of the  1 st   meeting  of  the  Technical  Advisory  Committee  (TAC)  for Landslide  Mitigation  and  Management  in  India,  chaired  by  the
-  Secretary, Ministry of Mines.
-  GHRM  Cell  is primarily involved in  Research  &  Development activities  in  the  field  of  landslides  and  provides  services  to  all landslide  divisions  of  GSI  for  landslide  related  works,  including mentoring  the  National  Landslide  Susceptibility  Mapping  (NLSM) programme of GSI.
-  With an aim to collate the plethora of landslide data available in GSI repository  and  to  publish  them  for  public  use,  the  GHRM  Cell  has taken  the  work  of  preparation  of  landslide  compendium  of  NW Himalayas.

## Unstable zones studied by GSI in Uttarakhand

|   Unstable zones | Unstable zones                                                                              |   Unstable zones |
|------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|
|                1 | Okhimath Tehsil, Rudraprayag-Kedarnath road, district Chamoli                               |               10 |
|                2 | Okhimath Tehsil, Haridwar-Badrinath road, and Rudraprayag-Kedarnath road, district Chamoli. |               35 |
|                3 | Haridwar-Badrinath road, district Chamoli                                                   |               14 |
|                4 | Karnapryag-Gwaldam road, district Chamoli                                                   |                4 |
|                5 | Haridwar-Badrinath-Mana road, district                                                      |                2 |
|                6 | Reni village, Ganai village, Joshimath-Marlari road, district Chamoli                       |                4 |
|                7 | Tharali village, district Chamoli                                                           |                1 |
|                8 | Karmi village, district Almora                                                              |                2 |
|                9 | Jalikhan-Jiakhan road district Almora                                                       |                1 |
|               10 | Bareilly-Almora road district Almora                                                        |                2 |
|               11 | Nainital: Sher ka Danda Hill, Naina Peak, Balia nala and Jangali village                    |                3 |
|               12 | Barielly-Kathgodam road, district Nainital                                                  |                5 |
|               13 | Almora-Pithoragarh road, district Almora                                                    |                4 |
|               14 | Kinwani Slide, Distt, Pauri Garhwal                                                         |                1 |
|               15 | Bhagirathi Valley, district Uttarkashi                                                      |              181 |
|               16 | Bhagirathi Valley, district Uttarkashi                                                      |               54 |
|               17 | Kannauldiya gad, district Uttarkashi                                                        |                3 |
|               18 | Haridwar-Badrinath road, district Chamoli                                                   |                4 |
|               19 | Rudraprayag-Kedarnath road, district Chamoli                                                |                1 |
|               20 | Haridwar-Badrinath road and Rudraprayag-Kedarnath road, district Chamoli                    |                2 |
|               21 | Durlokh village, district Pithoragarh                                                       |                1 |
|               22 | Pithoragarh-Almora road, district Almora                                                    |                1 |
|               23 | Dharchula-Tawaghat road, Tawaghat village, district Pithoragarh                             |                8 |
|               24 | Kedarnath township                                                                          |                1 |

## Annexure-I

## Unstable zones studied by GSI in Himachal Pradesh

|   Unstable zones | Unstable zones                                                |     |
|------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|-----|
|                1 | Satluj river valley, district Kinnaur                         |  87 |
|                2 | Naina Devi Temple area, district Bilaspur                     |   1 |
|                3 | Bilaspur-Kiratpur road, district Bilaspur                     |   1 |
|                4 | Simla town, district Simla                                    |   3 |
|                5 | Kulu and Mandi districts                                      |  19 |
|                6 | Satluj river valley, district Kulu                            |   4 |
|                7 | Satluj river valley, Simla and Kulu districts                 |  30 |
|                8 | Kulu and Kinnaur districts                                    |  20 |
|                9 | Baira dam site, districts Chamba                              |   2 |
|               10 | Beas valley, district Kangra                                  | 175 |
|               11 | Dalhousie town, district Chamba                               |   2 |
|               12 | Near Sonwara Rly. St., Kalka-Simla Rail route, district Solan |   1 |
|               13 | Near Kandon, district Sirmur                                  |   1 |

## Unstable zones studied by GSI in Jammu & Kashmir

|   1 | Landslide at village Tak, Batote, District Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir.                                                    |
|-----|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   2 | Landslide at village Channgabra, Batote, District Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir.                                             |
|   3 | Landslide at village Rakh Jhrog along PMGSY road, Batote, District Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir.                            |
|   4 | Landslides on Road Karu-Tangtse, District Leh, Jammu and Kashmir.                                                        |
|   5 | Landslides on Shyok-Agham Road, District Leh, Jammu and Kashmir.                                                         |
|   6 | Landslides on Rema-Rewari Road, District Leh, Jammu and Kashmir.                                                         |
|   7 | Landslide along Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board track (near Devidwar, Ardhkwari), District Reasi, Jammu and Kashmir. |
|   8 | Landslide at village Sadal, District Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir.                                                        |
|   9 | Landslide at village Sheindera, District Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir.                                                      |
|  10 | Landslide at village Upper Potha, District Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir.                                                    |
|  11 | Landslide at village Chela and Dangri, District Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir.                                               |
|  12 | Landslide at Kheri on National Highway, District Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir.                                            |
|  13 | Landslide at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan, Katra, District Reasi, Jammu and Kashmir.                                    |
|  14 | Landslide at Tringula, Batote on national highway, District Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir.                                   |
|  15 | Landslide at village Dharam, Gool, District Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir.                                                   |