A day long workshop on slope stabilisation challenges, techniques and solutions was organised by Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project under the Disaster Management Department, Uttarakhand with an objective to provide an opportunity to different consultancy firms and practitioners involved in the slope stabilisation work to present their views on the subject.
In the workshop WAPCOS limited, a design consultant involved in the comprehensive slope stabilisation study by the Government of Uttarakhand, which is also responsible for providing complete technical solutions for five identified disturbed slopes, of which, four are located in Rudraprayag district and one is at Purnagiri temple in Champawat district. In the programme WAPCOS officials shared the solution/measures provided in the DPRs and different implementing/executing agencies shared their experience, case histories, ideas and best practices adopted by them for the slope stabilisation works in the different parts of the world.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the disaster management secretary Amit Singh Negi talked about the June 2013 disaster in Uttarakhand. The Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project and Uttarakhand Emergency Assistance Project, under Disaster Management Department, Uttarakhand, funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank has already prepared Detailed Project Report (DPR) of 20 slopes. Currently, 10 slope stabilisation works are going on in five major districts of Uttarakhand.
The additional secretary of the state disaster management department, Savin Bansal explained that the State is highly prone to the disasters like landslide. In context of slope treatment and stabilisation the Disaster Management Department of Uttarakhand with the support of National and International agencies like Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are using new upgraded technologies to treat the slopes in a better way.
Officials from the World Bank, Anup Karanth and Deepak Malik apart from the officials from Asian Development Bank were also among those present during the programme. Civil engineers, geo-structural designers, geotechnical engineers, geologists, officials of various government departments and others involved in construction related activities were also present in the workshop. The representatives from various organisations including Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, WAPCOS, JICA, PWD and MACCAFERRI also shared their technical knowledge on the subject in the workshop.