The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Team of geologists advises removal of rocks

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Thursday, Oct 22, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Team of geologists advises removal of rocks

Staff Reporter

Highways officials request district administration not to open the road for traffic

KODAIKANAL: Even as the State Highways Department has intensified clearing operation on Batlagundu-Kodaikanal highway for the seventh day, a special team of geologists from Geological Survey of India inspected the landslide spot and advised the work force to remove the entire three layer rocks which was perching on 200-foot high peak.

Led by Geological Survey of India Director V. Balasubramaniam, the team checked properties of hanging rock, surface soil and cracks and penetration of roots beneath the rocks.

Later, the director suggested that an intensive research about rocks and surface soil on the hill was necessary to find out weak spots and strengthen it adequately to prevent landslides in future.

The rock that was perched on 200-foot high peak had three layers.

Demolishing those hanging rocky structures was essential as it might slide any time during rainy days, he cautioned. “Long term research on rocky structures on the hill will help prevent such disasters.”

Later, the team also interacted with State Highways officials and advised various methods for quick demolition of the hanging structure.

After inspecting the accident spot, the geologists’ team went to Kodaikanal hill to check for other vulnerable spots on the Ghat Road. (Two years ago, Highways officials had detected a massive crack on the hill near Perumal Malai due to heavy rain. Later, water outlets were installed to remove rain water seeping through cracks.)

In the meanwhile, the highways work force had cleared all boulders and debris that fell on the road on October 15. After clearing all boulders, they found that the surface of the road was not damaged much.

The land slide zone was neat and clean on Wednesday evening. But Highways officials appealed to the district administration not to open this road for traffic in order to bring the hanging rock down. Heap of soil were dumped across the road on both sides to prevent mobility of vehicles.

When contacted, State Highways Divisional Engineer P. Jayaraj said that the work force had plans to bring one more compressor unit, in addition to the existing one, to expedite drilling work to plant bombs.

Even after detonation of over 100 bombs, the rocks were not demolished fully. The demolition work would continue tomorrow and the day after also.

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