Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 7: Even as central government has formed an expert panel to conduct a “rapid study” of land subsidence in Joshimath, the Uttarakhand government has launched a massive evacuation operation to move to safer places the people living in houses threatened with collapse.
The operation was initiated on Saturday after a temple collapsed and several houses developed huge cracks on Friday evening alarming residents living under constant fear of a major disaster in the Himalayan town, gateway to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, the major pilgrim centres of Hindus and Sikhs respectively. Joshimath also houses one of the major military bases near India’s border with China.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reached the “sinking town” on Saturday to assess the situation following the collapse of the temple and several houses. He has ordered immediate evacuation of around 600 families. Helicopters have been kept stand-by to airlift people in case of any exigency.
The expert panel formed by the Centre would study the effects of the sinking of land on human settlements, buildings, highways, infrastructure and riverine systems, officials said.
“Saving lives is our first priority. Officials have been asked to shift around 600 families living in endangered houses in Joshimath to safe locations,” Dhami said adding that both immediate and long-term action plans should be prepared immediately.
Medical treatment facilities should be available on the ground and arrangements for airlifting people should also be made, the Chief Minister further said, while ordering to expedite work on the treatment of danger zones, sewer, and drainage.
While the locals say climate change and constant infrastructure development are to be blamed for the sinking of Joshimath, experts believe that both human and natural activities have contributed for the subsidence. The factors are not recent, they have built up over a long period of time, director of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology Kalachand Sain has said. The going down of the Himalayan rivers and heavy rainfall which is characteristic of the area beside the flashfloods in the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga rivers last year may also have worsened the situation, he said.
Mr Dhami said a disaster control room should also be set up in the town, and there should be adequate deployment of both the state and national disaster response forces. Helicopter services will also be made available to help affected people.
The Auli ropeway, which is Asia’s biggest, has been stopped after a huge crack developed beneath it. The Marwari area in the town, where an aquifer burst, is said to be the worst hit as water is constantly flowing down with great force. All construction activities related to mega projects like the Chardham all-weather road (Helang- Marwari bypass) and the NTPC’s hydel project have been stopped till further orders on the demand of residents. The state government has said people whose houses are affected and have to vacate will get ₹ 4,000 a month as rent for the next six months from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
An office memorandum issued by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti said the expert panel comprising representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Central Water Commission, Geological Survey of India, and National Mission for Clean Ganga among others will conduct a “rapid study and examine the cause of the occurrence and its impact or key impact” and submit a report to the NMCG within three days. It said the committee, among other things, would cover the effects of the sinking of land on human settlements, buildings, highways, infrastructure, and riverine systems.
Experts said haphazard construction activities have been going on in the area for a long time without thinking about the pressure the town is capable of coping with which may also have led to cracks appearing in the houses there.
Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar and secretary disaster management Ranjit Kumar Sinha along with a team of experts are camping on the ground to constantly monitor the situation. Dhami said for permanent rehabilitation of affected people, alternative locations should be identified in Pipalkoti, Gauchar, and other places.
Luckily there was no one inside the temple when it collapsed as it had been abandoned after it developed huge cracks over the past 15 days, locals said. Huge cracks have appeared in scores of houses while many have suffered subsidence. Land subsidence has been going on for more than a year but the problem has aggravated over the past fortnight.
Meanwhile, protests continued on Friday as people staged a dharna at the tehsil office of Joshimath demanding rehabilitation. As Joshimath’s subsidence seemed to aggravate, even the BJP sent a team to the town to assess the situation.
Sain had also pointed out that “hotels and restaurants have mushroomed everywhere. The pressure of population and the size of the crowd of tourists has also increased manifold,” he said. “Many houses in the town are unlikely to survive and people living in them must be shifted to safe locations as life is precious,” he said. After the evacuation of people in affected areas to safety, microzonation of the town, re-planning of its drainage system and rainwater outlets besides assessment of rock strength among others should be undertaken, Mr Sain suggested.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday expressed concern over the plight of people in Joshimath and asked the state government to take care of the affected populace and ensure their safety in this cold weather. “The pictures coming from Joshimath in Uttarakhand are horrifying… I am deeply disturbed, wide cracks in houses, seepage of water, cracks in the ground and subsidence of roads are a matter of great concern… A landslide caused the Bhagwati temple to collapse,” he said.
“Going against nature by continuous digging and unplanned construction on the mountains has led to the people of Joshimath facing a terrible crisis today,” he also said. He called upon the Uttarakhand government to “take care of people in this harsh weather” and also appealed to all the Congress workers there to help the people at the earliest and take them to safe places.
