Choked drains to blame for Darjeeling landslides?

Prithvijit Mitra,TNN | Jul 4, 2015, Kolkata: MIRIK: Darjeeling may have paid the price for better mobile connectivity and neglecting basic upkeep of infrastructure. The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration has alleged that cables laid for 3G and 4G networks blocked drainage lines, causing rainwater to pool along hillsides and eventually leading to the devastating landslides that killed at least 29 people. 

Digging in the hills is expensive and time consuming. GTA alleges that instead of making separate trenches, mobile communication companies laid cables through drainage lines in Mirik, choking up the system. There was nowhere for the rainwater to go but down the hill slopes. Kurseong division — where the picturesque Mirik lies — was pounded by three days of incessant rain since Sunday, peaking with a 183mm deluge on Tuesday. 

All that rainwater accumulated in several layers along the hillsides, say locals and GTA members. The threshold was breached after midnight on Tuesday. As if a dam had burst, tonnes of water cascaded down soggy slopes, turning mud into mush and dislodging boulders that hammered into hutments. 

It is the state PWD that allows cellphone companies to lay cables, but it does a shoddy job of supervision, say GTA members. "These 3G and 4G cables have been laid till Sikkim without proper supervision. It was PWD's responsibility to ensure that the drains were not used (for laying of cables) but it did not supervise. As a result, water has been spilling out everywhere along the roads, eventually flowing down the hills which loosened the soil. The heavy rainfall over the past week caused the loose mud hurtle down, triggering the landslides," said Arun Sigshi, a GTA member. PWD is under the Mamata Banerjee government with which GTA has a blow-hot-blow-cold relationship. 

But was this the lone trigger (if at all) for such devastation? Sigshi agreed that other factors were responsible. "We have no control over natural calamities but why should drains meant for carrying water be used for cables?" he asked. 

Locals said cellphone cables are laid every year, with one company following another. While drains are often dug up to facilitate the cable laying, they are never restored. "This is a vulnerable area. Rainwater has to be drained out quickly and efficiently in the hills. Instead, we have drains choked by cables. The main drainage line in Mirik has not been repaired for the last 10 years. PWD has started restoring it, but the work should have been completed before the onset of monsoon. Had it been done, the landslide might have been avoided," said Sandip Rana, a resident of Limbudora village where 19 people have been killed. 

Locals agree that 3G and 4G cable-laying is necessary because cellphones have bridged distances in the Hills. "But cables should be laid simultaneously by all the networks, under proper supervision of PWD. Cable upgrade will continue for many more years to come. We might soon have 5G and 6G networks. If cables continue to be laid along the drains, then the whole drainage system will collapse," said Sigshi. 
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