GUWAHATI, July 20 - Less than a week after two persons lost their lives in devastating landslides in the city, a woman was killed this morning at Kharghuli locality after a chunk of hill fell and buried the victim.
Officials from the Kamrup Metro district administration said that Malati Das of Mandakini Path, Kharghuli, was washing clothes in the bathroom in the backyard of her family home when a chunk of earth fell from the nearby hill.
Das was buried under the debris. By the time rescuers managed to extricate the lady from the debris, she was already dead.
Dr M Angamuthu, Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup Metro, rushed to the spot along with senior officials from various civic departments. He announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of the dead.
The DC directed the GMDA, GMC, Circle Officer Guwahati, soil conservation department and SDRF to jointly inspect all the houses in the locality and take corrective measures, including evacuation of residents, in case of any lacunae.
Dr Angamuthu said that the district administration would soon form a committee of specialists from institutions like IIT Guwahati and Assam Engineer College to study all landslide-prone areas and properties in such areas to suggest remedial measures to prevent such incidents.
The district administration has also directed the GMC and the GMDA to immediately take action to check if building bye-laws have been adhered to while constructing houses and other structures in hilly areas and foothills of the area. Those found to have violated the rules will be prosecuted.
The administration has, meanwhile, advised all residents of landslide prone areas to maintain caution and refrain from residing in houses located in dangerous zones.
Based on a report filed by the Circle Officer of Guwahati, along with police and SDRF, after inspection the administration today directed evacuation of four houses, including three located at Mandakini Path, Kharghuli.
The houses of Prasanta Das, Jiten Das and Anita Das of Mandakini Path and of Lankeswar Deka of Indrapur of Jyotinagar were ordered to be evacuated. Inspection of the properties had revealed that they are all in danger from landslides.
Meanwhile, another landslide was also reported from the Noonmati locality. However, nobody was injured in that incident.
With today�s casualty at Kharghuli, the total number of deaths from landslides so far this monsoon season has risen to four. While two persons had lost their lives in slides last week, another one had died in June.
Meanwhile, many localities of the city faced flash flood after torrential downpour this morning. Among the worst affected were Panjabari, VIP Road, Chanchal and Sarumataria.
Officials said that water from the hills of Meghalaya, on account of heavy downpour in Ri-Bhoi district, has complicated the problem.
