Authorities line up adequate response system, urge people to act promptly on alerts
GANGTOK,: Heavy rains, above normal level, are forecasted this monsoon in Sikkim which instinctively throws a major concern for road networks and settlements along the Teesta riverine belt that are yet to fully recover from last October’s devastating flash flood.
Around 37 persons were killed and 77 went missing when the flash flood swept away the Chungthang hydel dam and 14 bridges, completely damaged a little above 1500 houses and battered vast stretches of road formations along the Teesta riverine belt from North Sikkim to Rangpo.
Managing the 2024 monsoon fury – the first after the flash flood - along the Teesta stretch is going to be a formidable challenge for the State authorities. Teesta river’s morphology has considerably changed while heavy siltation has further increased its water level over the past seven months since October 2023, it was pointed out.
River morphology denotes the shapes of river channels and how they change in shape and direction over time.
During the recent pre-monsoon preparedness meeting of SSDMA chaired by chief secretary VB Pathak, it was submitted that post the October 2023 flood disaster in Sikkim, monsoon related threats are likely to affect the State in a major way. Preparedness is thus required in order to bring together various stakeholders and line departments for effective mitigation and handling of any impending disaster related threats.
As part of the overall preparations made, the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) along with the respective District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is also giving focus on sensitizing people living close to Teesta River regarding monsoon-related risks. Settlements along the river banks like Melli bazaar, Rangpo IBM, Golitar, Adaarsh Gaon, Dikchu, Sankhlanang and Chungthang would be given special attention in terms of awareness and preparedness.
“Before the monsoon starts, we are holding awareness camps this month in all the riverine areas starting from Melli up to Chungthang. During these awareness camps, people will be stressed that they must evacuate to higher grounds immediately when water levels increase or there is heavy rains,” said SSDMA special secretary-cum-director Prabhakar Rai to SIKKIM EXPRESS.
The SSDMA director stressed that people living close to Teesta river must be ready to move out this monsoon and not to take water level increasing alerts lightly.
“People in low lying areas must evacuate to safer locations when warnings about water level increase come through official channels or there are heavy rains. Heavy siltation has already increased the river’s water level and there has been a drastic change in the river’s morphology. In past, the river was flowing in one direction and now it is flowing in another direction,” said Rai.
After evacuating, the affected people can move to those schools in their vicinity which have been pre-marked to operate as relief camps with arrangements being made by the concerned DDMAs.
Post 2011 earthquake, the State government has identified government schools at multiple locations to function as relief camps during natural calamities. The concerned DDMAs have been instructed to ensure that essential commodities like food grains, mattress, blankets and power supply along with washroom facilities are readily available when these schools are converted into relief centres.
Arrangements are also being made to ensure that timely alerts of water level increasing are communicated to the riverine settlements and field-level authorities. The SSDMA is working closely with the Central Water Commission (CWC) and State Water Resources department on this.
The CWC was among those Central agencies who attended the State-level pre-monsoon preparedness meeting on May 1.
“The mandate of riverine belt is with the CWC who monitors, among other things, the water discharge in the rivers. If there is a major discharge, they will immediately send a warning to all the concerned organisations. Since May 1, they are sending us daily reports about the water discharge of Teesta and Rangeet rivers,” said the SSDMA director.
Meanwhile, the State Water Resources department is said to have placed water level monitoring systems at the major bridges. Based on the data from these systems, alerts would be sent to all organisations including SSDMA if the water levels are found rising above the danger level.
Recently approval was also given for having a similar monitoring system at Sankhalang, Dzongu.
“The SSDMA is lined up for generating awareness and staying prepared. The pre-monsoon preparedness meeting was conducted on May 1 in order to analyse how the line departments are prepared with machinery, manpower, and whether those resources are available at particular spots or not. All the line departments and Central agencies are positioned in a unified manner to tackle and work any emergency situation to give respite and relief to the affected people,” said the SSDMA director.
The respective DDMAs are also holding pre-monsoon preparedness meetings at their districts.
