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Shimla’s IIAS seeks risk assessment after landslide
IIAS sales and public relations officer (PRO) Akhilesh Pathak said, “We have written to the deputy commissioner, superintendent of police (SP) and the municipal corporation (MC) authorities for risk assessment and preventive measures for the safety of the complex.”
The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla, has written to the local authorities demanding risk assessment of the complex in the wake of a landslide on August 14 that left many buried inside a temple in Summer Hill.
IIAS sales and public relations officer (PRO) Akhilesh Pathak said, “We have written to the deputy commissioner, superintendent of police (SP) and the municipal corporation (MC) authorities for risk assessment and preventive measures for the safety of the complex.”
Shimla SP Sanjeev Gandhi, who visited the site on Thursday, said the land there has sunk about half a metre, while some trees were also tilted. He, however, said the spot is nowhere near the one from where a landslide triggered last Sunday damaging a pathway, sweeping away dozens of deodar trees and burying a temple down the hill, killing 15 people, while six are still missing.
“This spot is in the completely opposite direction. The site of Monday landslide is in the back side at the outer edge of the lawns of the institute while the sinking land is near the entry in the front side,” he added.
“So, these two sites should not be mixed up,” Gandhi said, adding that he has directed the local police station to submit a detailed report of the sunk portion.
Shimla (urban) subdivisional magistrate (SDM) Bhanu Gupta said he has told the MC to send its technical team to review the situation.
Meanwhile, the IIAS has covered the outer portion of the lawns with tarpaulins to prevent seepage into the slide-hit portion.
The landslide was so devastating that it swept away two roads and portion of the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge railway track, a UNESCO world heritage site. The debris flowed 700-800 metres down the hill before it struck the Shiva Temple, where a large number of people had gathered to offer prayers on last Monday of Shravana month.
