Ajit Karn
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The people affected by cracks in the land and houses in Joshimath have been shifted to safer places and ‘Relief Camp’ is their new abode for the time being.
According to the administration, so far cracks have been seen in a total of 561 houses.
There is a state of fear among the affected people. Joshimath is the gateway to major pilgrimage centers of Hindus and Sikhs. It is also a favorite place for tourists trekking in the higher reaches of the Himalayas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday to inquire about the situation arising out of the landslide.The Prime Minister inquired about the preparations for the safety and rehabilitation of the affected families of Joshimath.
PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a high-level meeting.
Uttarakhand Chief Secretary SS Sandhu and DGP Ashok Kumar participated in this meeting through video conferencing. After the meeting, Uttarakhand’s DGP and Secretary RK Meenakshi Sundaram went and inspected the landslide area.
Retired scientist of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) DM Banerjee has said that the construction of the four-lane highway has weakened the entire system and should not have been built.
climate of fear
Disaster management officials have declared some parts of Joshimath as ‘unsafe’ to live in. People have been sent to safer places.
Since the cracks in the houses and roads have started widening, the residents of Joshimath are leaving their homes due to fear. Most of the people have left their homes and gone to stay in night rest houses set up by the local administration.
The Chief Minister’s Office said, “The Prime Minister talked about the solution to the concerns of the local residents and about the immediate and future preparations.”
The CMO has said, “The PM is personally monitoring the work being done to ensure the safety of residents in the area and the situation in Joshimath.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also assured the Chief Minister of ‘all possible help’ from the Centre.
cracks in 561 houses
In Joshimath, located in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, cracks are appearing in the ground for the last few days and they are getting wider.
According to the news agency ANI, Chief Minister Dhami has formed a ‘coordination committee’ under the leadership of Additional Chief Secretary at the government level.
At the local level, a committee has been formed under the leadership of the Garhwal Commissioner, which will oversee the safety, relief and rescue work of the residents.
So far, the residents of 66 houses which have developed major cracks have been shifted from Joshimath to relief camps.
According to the District Disaster Management Department, cracks have appeared in 561 houses in Joshimath so far.
Scientist DM Banerjee told that Joshimath comes in the lower Himalayan region and falls in Seismic Zone 4. People should not have built houses of three or four storeys here.
According to him, Joshimath is on very weak ground. This whole town is situated on the land formed due to a huge landslide that occurred 6000-7000 years ago.
Hydro power project is the reason?
Sati says that in the year 2013, concerns were raised that the tunnels related to the hydro power project could bring destruction in Uttarakhand. These projects were stopped that year.
Joshimath Municipality has found in its survey conducted in last December that 2882 people can be affected by this type of disaster. Municipality President Shailendra Panwar told that so far 550 houses have been found unsafe, out of which 150 houses are such that they can collapse anytime.
Not only this, after the Chamoli disaster on February 7, 2021, there are reports of land cracking in the entire Niti Valley. In the year 2021, after heavy rains in the month of June to October, there have been reports of land cracking in Rainin village of Gaura Devi, who was the heroine of the Chipko movement.
Earlier in the year 1970 also, incidents of land subsidence had come to the fore in Joshimath.
A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Garhwal Commissioner Mahesh Mishra to investigate the causes of this natural disaster. This committee had told in its report in the year 1978 that big construction projects should not be run in Joshimath, Niti and Mana Valley as these areas rest on moraines.
Moraines refer to the areas that are left behind after the glacier melts.
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