Dated October 22, 2002
The Dawnlit Post

As the Himalayas are very young and the topography in the North-East fragile, landslides and rock slides have become a regular feature during the monsoon season, according to the Border Roads Organization (BRO), Tezpur.

Inaugurating a 10-day orientation course on 'Application of Geological Information System' (GIS) in landslide hazard mitigation with special reference to North-East region here today, Brigadier Ghai of the BRO called upon technocrats and scientists to come out with long-term solution of the problem.

He further called for suggestions as to how to control landslides and rock slides that hindered the development of the region.

The 10-day orientation course was jointly organized by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Itanagar.

Sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, it aimed at recommending means to check out the communication hazard in the region.

Recounting that two strong bailey bridges near Bomdila in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh were washed away within 20 minutes, a few months back, Brig. Ghai pointed out that it was glaring evidence of fragility of topography of the area.