INTRODUCTION v mnvmbbkjgkgu

As part of follow up action on tour report of the Director General, Department of Roads dated
August 2019, and subsequent request from Regional Office, DoR, Samdrupjongkhar vide letter
No. DoR/ROSJ/2018-2019/CD-17/48 dated July 16, 2019 the undersigned carryout detailed site
assessment on unstable area at Ch. 0.30 on Dewathang-Samdrupcholing SNH. The assessment
was jointly conducted out with following officials in the month of January 2020.
1. Karma, Executive Engineer, Dewathang Sub-Division, RO, DoR Samdrupjongkhar.
2. Nima, Assistant Engineer-II, Dewathang Sub-Division, RO, DoR Samdrupjongkhar.
3. Tshering Norbu, Survey Associate, RO, DoR Samdrupjongkhar.
4. Tempa Thinley, Dy. EE, Geotechnical Section, Design Division, DoR, Thimphu.

The construction of Dewathang – Samdrupcholing road was taken up by the Project DANTAK in
late eighties. This 48 km road forms an important link between Dewathang -Samdrupcholing
and it is a part of Southern East West Highway that connects extreme eastern part of the
country called Jomotshangkha via Samrang.

Among many instabilities problems along the Dewathang – Samdrupcholing SNH, the current
study was focused on landslide at Ch. 0.30. This landslide pose frequent road block and disturb
movement of vehicular traffic during monsoon.

The study is based on visual assessment and it is just a preliminary investigation. Detailed
investigation like geophysical investigation, sampling and testing for geotechnical parameters is
warranted in future.

OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of this study were:
 to understand the landslide characteristics;
 determine the causes of the landslides;
 to assess landslide hazards and risk, and
 propose sustainable mitigation measures or solutions to reduce the risks.

REGIONAL GEOLOGY
The area is characterized by very weak geology comprising intensely weathered sandstone and
coal seams of Gondwana formations. Further The study area lies within the Lesser Himalayan
zone and falls under Gondwana Succession. the area is sandwiched between two regional
thrusts namely Main Boundary Thrust and Baxa Thrust making the geological formation very
brittle and ductile.The gray, medium-grained feldspathic, litic-rich sandstone interbeded with
dark-dray to black, thin to medium bedded, carbonaceous silt stone, shale slate and argillite
and rare black coal beds dominates the rock types in an area (Gansser, 1983; Lakshminarayana,
1995; Long et al., 2011A) General visualization of the regional geology of study area is shown in
the table-I which was established on the basis of tectono-stratigraphic position, gross
lithological assemblage and the grade of metamorphism, Bhargava et.al (1995).
 Study Area

Figure 1: Regional
geological of the study area. Study area is marked by green circle.

FIELD OBSERVATIONS