No new cracks since Jan 20, say officials; Joshimath residents disagree

There has been no new damage to property at Uttarakhand’s Joshimath town since January 20, an official survey has found, the Chamoli district administration said on Saturday.

Cracks have been found in 863 structures, out of which 181 were at heightened risk, Saturday’s official numbers showed, the same as on January 20.

“Our survey has been completed. We are reconciling the data,” Chamoli district magistrate Himanshu Khurana said. “If there are any changes, they would be minor.”

The official data was disputed by Atul Sati, convener of Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a civil socirty organisation. The samiti is informed of cracks found in houses almost daily and the state government is papering over the continuing crisis, he alleged .

“They are trying to create a perception that everything is fine in the town. Earlier, they didn’t publicize the reports of technical agencies on the Joshimath crisis,” Sati said. “It is a similar attempt to suppress the reality. It is laughable when the chief minister reiterates that 65-70% of the locals are living a normal life. Their negligent attitude towards the town is the reason why people in the town are suffering. If they would have admitted rather than undermining or trying to keep things under the carpet, the situation would have never arisen.”

“On January 20, the town received snow and rainfall, and in the later days as well. It escalated the situation,” Sati said. “Why it is not reflected in the numbers released by the government? If all is well in Joshimath, then why thousands of people from the town and nearby villages took to the streets yesterday?”

The residents of Joshimath irked at the inadequate compensation being given to the families affected by the crisis activities took out a rally under the banner of Joshimath Bachao Sangarsh samiti as a mark of protest on Friday.

The statements made by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Joshimath have annoyed local residents, who are facing the brunt of land subsidence. On January 12, during his second visit to the town, Dhami had stocked a row by saying that crisis in Joshimath town of is a “natural disaster and has not been caused by anyone.”

The statement came two weeks before the eight technical agencies studying the situation submitted their preliminary reports to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on January 25. Dhami had also said that rumours about the disaster are creating a “wrong perception” about the town, which is harming the residents and Joshimath’s economy. “Let’s not create a panic that Joshimath is all damaged and unsafe. We have international games, Char Dham yatra ahead,” Dhami had said, referring to the pilgrimage season that starts in May.

Later, Dhami said, “65-70% people in Joshimath are living a normal life.”

Experts and town residents have attributed the crisis to damage to the underground water strata from power utility NTPC’s tunneling work for a hydropower project, unplanned development, and the use of heavy machinery for construction of the Helang-Marwari bypass as part of the Char Dham roads project.

“We knew right from the beginning that they would are working in hand and glove with NTPC. They would never want the company to leave the town due to vested interests. That is why the chief minister made the statement that it was a natural disaster even before the technical agencies submitted their preliminary reports,” said Harish Negi, an affected local. “Why are they not making the reports public if the company is not responsible for the destruction of the town? Despite an army of officials camping in town and the chief minister visiting here two times, they failed to understand what we are going through.”

In a related development, the Border Roads Organisation has constituted a panel comprising experts from the National Highways Authority of India, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and THDC India, a unit of NTPC, to examine the construction of the Helang-Marwari bypass, disaster management secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha said.

The work of the bypass and other construction activity were halted by the district administration in the first week of January after protests by local residents. Under the Centre’s ₹12,000 crore Char Dham roads project, the Helang-Marwari bypass, which is being built some 13km from Joshimath at its foothill, aims to shorten the distance to the Badrinath shrine by 30km.