Udupi: Massive landslide at Otthinenne hits NH 66 widening work

Udupi, Jun 8: A massive landslide at Otthinenne Junction near Byndoor not only hit the traffic for over five hours on Wednesday but also affected the ongoing National Highway 66 widening work between Kundapur and Bhatkal.

The landslide took place at around 5 am. However, there was no loss of life as the vehicular movement was scarce. A large number of vehicles queued up on both sides of the road later following the landslide.

It is said that hillock, which has red clay and stone crust, has harder texture on the outer layer, but is soft inside. The road was filled with heaps of red clay and the cover of clay collapsed layer by layer and it seemed as if the whole hillock collapsed on the road. The hillocks on either side have been left barren without any safety precautionary measures.

The road clearing work was immediately taken up under the guidance of the police and earth movers were pressed into service. However, as the soil mixed with water was sultry, the clearing operation took hours together. The already exiting road, which was earlier used to cross the stretch, has also been dug to build alternative connectivity.

The police said that traffic was normal by 11 am and IRB Company is now taking safety measures. It is building iron bar based walls against the hillocks and the loose clay within the hillock is being removed to prevent disasters in future. Instructions have been given to the company to build a safety wall in view of heavy rain.

Negligence

Kundapur assistant commissioner Shilpa Nag, who visited the spot, filed a complaint of negligence and sub-standard work against the NHAI project director, IRB Infrastructure contractor and consultant who liaised between NHAI and company, at Baindoor police station.

Shilpa said she had held a meeting regarding monsoon preparedness along with Tahsildar, NHAI and IRB officials and also inspected that section just a fortnight ago. "IRB personnel had informed me they were stabilizing the hillock based on advice given by IISc scientists by using rods and making drains. The drain work and piling of rods was over, but culvert work was remaining,'' she said. She added that the incident occurred because the hillock was cut deeply instead of employing the step-cut.

"The soil is clayish in nature and there was no threat of it falling down on the road and killing anybody or damaging vehicles. The hillock slumped and the mud slid onto the road, blocking both right and left hand sides of NH66," she said, indicating that NHAI and IRB were unprepared for such an eventuality as the alternative road for section was not ready.

Shilpa said she had instructed IRB personnel to keep earth excavators on standby in that section to quickly clear debris in case there was another incident. She would review measures taken by NHAI and IRB Infrastructure on Thursday. "We'll take adequate measures so that this is not repeated," she added.