Joshimath crisis: 723 houses damaged; ‘Himalayas map can’t be drawn like Delhi’
The number of damaged houses in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath has gone up to 723 while the proposed demolition of two hotels could not be completed on Tuesday owing to the resistance of the hotel owners and residents.
A total of 131 families have been shifted to temporary relief centres amid anger, and hopelessness seething because of the crisis challenging Joshimath. And environment experts warn that Joshimath will not be the last one to encounter such a ‘man-made’ challenge invited by ‘reckless’ development works.
Here are the latest updates on the Joshimath crisis:
1. Safe evacuation of the residents from the houses that have developed cracks is the utmost priority, the National Crisis Management Committee said on Tuesday after reviewing the situation in Joshimath.
2. Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, will aid the state government in the planned demolition of the unsafe zone of Joshimath.
3. The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused an urgent hearing of a plea in connection with the Joshimath demolition and listed the matter for January 16. It said there are ‘democratically elected institutions’ to deal with such situations.
4. NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad project has come on the radar for the weakening of Joshimath’s foundation. While the construction has been stopped as of now, the NTPC has rejected the claims. In a press note last week, NTPC claimed that its tunnel is not passing under Joshimath.
5. On Monday, Joshimath was declared disaster-prone, a month after residents started their protest against the gradual sinking of the town.
6. An expert panel set up by the government found that the ground under Joshimath was being displaced resulting in the sinking of Joshimath due to man-made and natural factors.
7. Environment expert Vimlendu Jha said Joshimath is not the last to witness this tragedy as many Himalayan towns and villages will sink in the coming years and the government is the biggest violator.
8. “There are more than 66 tunnels being constructed in various parts of Uttarakhand, and also the dams, that are shaking up the entire state for decades, despite ALL the EXPERTS warning against them. Nonstop digging and blasting underground has created a havoc,” Jha tweeted.
9. Apart from the NTPC project, experts also held rail projects across the Himalayas for increasing landslides.
10. “Most shocking is that for over 5 decades, experts have warned the govt, to slow down, to not draw the map of Himalayas the same way as you do of Delhi or plains, be sensitive,” Jha tweeted.