On June 22 at 11 am, a minor landslide occurred along a hillock located at Malpe-Poroscodem on the NH-66. This resulted in dislodging of a boulder, a boulder that nearly missed a car and resulted in breaking of the retaining wall. The same day at noon, another boulder rolled down a cut hillside at Dhargalim. Luckily there were no casualties at both the places. Rather than blaming the vagaries of nature, the sheer negligence of the contractor needs to be condemned. The simple methods would have been to fix steel meshes along the slope, as done along parts of Konkan railway routes. And /or cement hard rock boulders to the laterite soil which is fragile and crumbles easily. These remedial courses could be carried out before the monsoon peaks. By the by, the government needs to check if the safety measures were mentioned in the tender paper. If yes, but were not followed by the contractor then strict action should be taken and penalties imposed.
