Joshimath: Number of buildings with cracks now 849

PTI

Joshimath, January 16

The Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (JBSS) on Monday urged the Centre to take over the relief and rehabilitation work in Joshimath as it accused the Uttarakhand Government of adopting a “lackadaisical” approach, even as the number of buildings developing cracks in the subsidence-hit town rose to 849, of which 165 are located in the danger zone.

800 shifted so far

• A total of 800 persons belonging to 237 families have so far been shifted to safety
• 615 rooms at 83 places have been identified as temporary relief camps in the town
• As many as 491 rooms in 20 buildings have been identified as temporary relief camps in Pipalkoti
• Uttarakhand Govt faces an uphill task of providing relief and rehabilitating the affected families in brutal winter
• Joshimath is the gateway to Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib

The JBSS also sought the scrapping of NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project, holding the building of its tunnel responsible for the current crisis in Joshimath. In a letter to PM Narendra Modi, JBSS convener Atul Sati accused the state government of ignoring warnings on the imminent disaster for 14 months and dealing with it now at a snail’s pace. It cited a research paper published in an international journal in 2015 which said the tunnel was dug in the “fault zone”.

“The crisis has endangered the very existence of a historic town, but the relief and rescue operations being carried out by the state government are devoid of any urgency,” it said. “We demand that the relief and rehabilitation work in Joshimath is taken over by the Centre,” the letter read.

Joshimath, the gateway to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and international skiing destination Auli, appears on the edge of a precipice with gaping cracks appearing on buildings, roads and public facilities. The state government faces an uphill task providing relief and rehabilitating the affected families in brutal winter.

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