The Chittagong hill management committee in a meeting on Monday decided to disrupt power, gas and water supply to the residences on the vulnerable hill slopes in the Chittagong city within a week.
‘Letters will be issued to the authorities concerned immediately to take necessary measure in this regard,’ said Alef Uddin, additional divisional commissioner, while presiding over the 10th meeting of the committee at the Chittagong Circuit House.
Abdul Kaium, project director of the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme, also an additional secretary to the disaster management ministry, was present at the meeting as chief guest.
Professor Maksud Kamal, adviser to the CDMP, deputy commissioner Fayez Ahmed and member secretary to the Chittagong hill management committee Ismail Hossain were also present among others at the meeting.
The committee also decided to engage mobile court to put an end to hill cutting, continuing the efforts to relocate the dwellers from the vulnerable hill slopes, to take measure to avert fresh encroachment of hills and rapid evacuation before any disaster.
Kaium stressed the need for taking fisable action plan as  well as implementing the recommendations made earlier to avert landslide and added that CDMP would extend all-out cooperation in this regard.
‘Meetings take place after every incident. A number of recommendations also come out but they are never fully implemented,’ he said, adding that implementation of these recommendations was imperative to find way out of such disasters.
He also said the CDMP would extend financial and technical cooperation to bodies concerned, including city corporation and civil defence authorities, in enhancing their capacities in disaster management.
He also said they would also finance few pilot projects to avert landslide and water-stagnation in the city.
The deputy commissioner said 26 people were killed in landslides in the district, including the city, even after putting the highest efforts to avert casualties this year and added that more than 100 people would have been killed otherwise.
‘We have to apply force to evacuate people from the vulnerable residences at different parts of the city before any possible disaster,’ he said.
Professor Kamal said there was an apprehension about landslide in Chittagong during more than 200 millimetres of rain in 24 hours.
He informed that the hill with more than 30 degree slopes were the most vulnerable to landslides.