Panel on lake formed after slide

Thekong Thek Lake

TT, Gangtok, Nov. 28: The state government has set up a five-member committee to examine the lake that was formed over the Kanaka river in North Sikkim after a landslide.

The panel visited the spot last week for "primary investigations".

On August 13, a slide at Mantam village in Dzongu had resulted in the formation of the lake and 23 houses had submerged in it. The water body called Thekong Thek Lake is 300m long, 100m wide and 70m deep.

On November 21, the state government issued a notification about the committee that would examine technical reports submitted by various agencies on the stability of the area and recommend measures to ensure that places below it do not have any risk.

"We visited the site on November 25, along with technical experts, and started primary investigations," said the state relief commissioner and the secretary of the land revenue department, Tsegyal Tashi.

The committee is headed by the additional chief secretary, S.C. Gupta, and Tashi is the member secretary. The panel has secretaries of forest, mines and geology and water resource and river development departments as members.

An official in the land revenue department said, if the lake overflows or in case of a lake burst, Singtam, Dikchu, Rangpo, Melli and Makha areas might get affected.

Local people had demanded that the water body should be converted to a tourist spot.