The age-old Pahari temple enlisted as one of the prominent tourist and religious destinations of Jharkhand, is at a high risk of being destroyed in a landslide, experts observed. Despite of the short term initiatives being taken up to somehow prevent the threat of avalanche at Pahari Temple, the danger continues to haunt the city residents especially those living in close proximity to the temple.
According to experts, the civil construction work undertaken a while ago had left a severe brunt on the temple’s ecological balance. Ahead of the beginning of pious Shravan month, the danger doubles.
Nevertheless, small initiatives like conducting massive plantation drive including construction of guard walls around the temple circumference has been suggested during a recent meet yet ecologists assert that nothing could save the place, if five mandatory steps are not taken at the earliest.
According to geologist Dr Nitish Priyadarshi, the district administration must focus on covering the cracked areas, soil exposure due to civil construction must be prevented by putting trees that has good capacity of soil preservation, steep slope and loose rocks on hill top should be averted and constant water flow need to be channelized through making small canals.
Also, Priyadarshi stated that the district administration’s decision to plant banana trees to prevent soil erosion will not prove much beneficial in the long run as it does not have much soil retention capacity and cannot sustain during heavy rainfall.
“The idea of planting saplings of banana trees including constructing boundary walls will not address the problem on a wider perspective. The condition of the temple is pitiable, the danger increases as vibration is created when public activities rises. Cracks generate a weak point and eventually it leads to landslide,” added Priyadarshi.
With a few days left for the Shravan month to begin, the shrine is still left in a total muddle. Incomplete civil construction task, cracked staircases, incessant soil erosion has become a cause of concern. Recently, Deputy Mayor Sanjiv Vijayawargia alongwith the officials of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) inspected the condition of the temple in the wake of the upcoming occasion.
During the inspection, the Deputy Mayor too had expressed his concern on the deteriorating condition of this major tourist spot. The Deputy Mayor is soon likely to conduct a meeting with Ranchi DC, Rai Mahimapat Ray to make him aware about the present status of the temple. Notably, every year, nearly 50,000 to 1 lakh devotees visit Pahari Temple during a month long Shravan Mela.