A wire ropeway for the carriage of goods between Kathgodam and Nainital was conceived way back in 1887. Present volume of passenger and goods movement between the two stations warrants exploring possibilities of materialising this dream.
General articles
Slope monitoring around Nainital
Successful monitoring of the hill slope around the Naini lake by British Raj authorities highlights the importance of vision, resolve and will power over technology and resources.
Garbyang: Sinking village of Higher Himalaya
Once upon a time, prior to Sino-Indian conflict of 1962, Garbyang was a thriving village located on Indo-Tibetan trade route. The village is presently facing serious land degradation, and interventions are required for retarding, and finally checking the pace of ground subsidence so as to secure the age-old legacy. If not addressed timely continuing ground […]
Mitigation Measures to Protect the Lake City
Not many would believe, but the expert committee constituted 04 days after Sher-ka-Danda landslide carried out detailed field investigations, established the causes of slope instability, and recommended not only elaborate mitigation measures but also suitable implementation mechanism in just 19 days, and these were actually implemented on ground in less than 02 years. The Lake […]
Sher-ka-Danda landslide of 1880
More than the devastation caused in Nainital town, Sher-ka-Danda landslide of September 18, 1880 needs to be remembered not only by Disaster Managers but also by the masses for prompt and detailed post-disaster investigations, and enactment of not only mitigation but also monitoring measures undertaken during the British Raj. 18 सितम्बर 1880 को नैनीताल में […]
Earthquakes warning from Uttarakhand – implications for UP and NCR
The inaugural Inaugurating the only functional regional earthquake early warning (EEW) system of the nation together with Uttarakhand Bhookamp Alert, a mobile application for accessing the earthquake warnings and other earthquake risk reduction related information, at Uttarakhand Secretariat in Dehradun in the forenoon of August 4, 2021, the Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reiterated the […]
Risk transfer for promoting risk reduction
Disasters often result is loss of lives, livestock, assets, property and infrastructure that often have severe adverse impact on the quality of life and livelihood strategy of the affected population. These at the same time disrupt industrial activities, commerce and routine business of the government. State has to therefore intervene for bringing forth narmalacy by […]
Disrupted bridges and missed opportunities
We encounter bridges so frequently, and in such diverse variety that we often take these for granted, and do not often pay particular attention towards their existence, leave apart appreciating their role in socio-economic development of our region, and adding comfort, and convenience to our routine lives. But then, imagine a world without bridges. But […]
June 2013: The Kedarnath saga
Kedarnath or Shree Kedarnath as it is reverentially addressed by the locals, is amongst the four Hindu sacred shrines located in Higher Himalayan region of Uttarakhand; others being Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. Not that this region has only Hindu shrines; there is Hemkund Sahib that is revered by Sikhs. Then the region also houses the […]
Resource allocation basis of XV Finance Commission
The official machinery in our nation carries a lot of inertia that makes officials adhere to precedents. It is in fact a perfect risk transfer strategy where the burden of failure can easily be passed on to those setting the precedent. This makes innovations hard to come by, and this has also been the case […]