Dehradun :The Gori river has changed its course due to the accumulation of large amounts of silt over the years and it has started flowing dangerously towards the surrounding villages, which has worried the residents. Residents of about a dozen villages including Gattabagad, Chami, Lumti, Mori, Manamkot, Toli, Choribagad of Bangapani sub-division have appealed to the district administration to protect their lives and property from the wrath of the river. Heera Chiral, former village head of Chauna village, said, “During the 2013 disaster, more than 15 acres of cultivable land in Bhadeli village, located near the Gori river, was washed away. The river is in spate most of the time during the rainy season and its flow can reach residential areas located only 300 meters away.
Madan Ram Sanyal, a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and a resident of Umargara village in Gori Valley, said that in the 2013 floods, the fertile land of Govind Ram, Hayat Ram and Bharan Ram situated near the Gori river was washed away in water and they were landless. Went. Dilip Singh, a farmer from Choribagad village, said that in the 2017 floods, more than 10 acres of land of him and two other farmers, Madho Ram and Diwani Ram, were washed away due to lack of a security wall along the river. He said that due to monsoon, the river has now reached closer to his house.
Pithoragarh District Magistrate Ashish Chauhan said that the district administration has sent a proposal to the higher authorities to build a security wall on the banks of the Gori river. He said that the Gori river flows closer to the residential areas as compared to other rivers of the district. Munni Devi, head of Ghori Mankot village, warned that since 2013, soil erosion has been taking place from the villages towards the river and many villages will be ruined if protective measures are not taken soon.
Geologist Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Pithoragarh said that the villages situated on the banks of the Gori river are settled on the sand brought by the river thousands of years ago. Due to the accumulation of silt in the middle of the river, the river flows towards the villages. He said that since there was no hard rock on the river bed, a very deep excavation would have to be done for the protection walls. According to Kumar, digging sand from the river and deepening it can also be an option, to prevent it from flowing towards the villages. However, this process is quite expensive and complicated.
Source: navbharattimes.indiatimes.com
: Language Inputs
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