In the hill town of Joshimath, a protest erupted on Tuesday against the Uttarakhand government's decision to demolish sinking homes and hotels without compensation.
The protesters are criticising the state administration for the reckless demolition decision. A demolition drive is expected to commence today in the "sinking" town of Joshimath to destroy the Hotel Malari Inn and other dangerous buildings.
A team of the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), which has been roped in for the demolition, surveyed the two hotels on Tuesday.
"The buildings will be razed systematically and the emphasis will be on reducing the load in the slope. The demolition process would be carried out in steps, from the top to bottom, and is estimated to take three-four days,"CBRI scientist Dr CP Kanungo told India Today.
As per reports, the Joshimath administration has called for a meeting of all officials and hotel owners whose properties are set to be demolished today.?
Locals and hotel owners sat on a dharna near Malari hotel and were not ready to leave without the assurance of compensation.
Malari Inn and Mount View, two neighbouring hotels, have started leaning towards each other dangerously, posing a threat to human settlements around them.?
The Uttarakhand government on Monday directed the razing of unstable structures, starting with these two buildings. But, as State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) personnel along with heavy machinery reached the site, the?Malari Hotel?owner Thakur Singhand other protestors blocked the way.??
On Tuesday, environmentalist Vimlendu Jha raised a serious concern amidst the Joshimath sinking tragedy in Uttarakhand.?
Jha has warned that Joshimath is not the last town to witness the sinking tragedy and many Himalayan towns and villages are set for the same path in future.
"This is not the last Joshimath, resilience of Himalayas can't be tested further, many Himalayan towns and villages will sink in coming years," he said.
He further said experts had warned the government for five decades over the sensitiveness of the Himalayan region and the absence of map drawings undertaken for the likes of Delhi and other plains.
In a thread on Twitter, he said that the coverage of Joshimath would show that haphazard construction is the main reason for the tragedy. But he believes it to be a 'coverup exercise'.
He wrote, "Main CULPRIT is the devt model pursued in Uttarakhand, in fact in entire Himalayan region, starting from Dharamshala to Arunachal, the large-scale infrastructure projects posing threat to fragile Himalayan ecosystem."
Joshimath, a gateway to holy sites such as Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, has been recognised as a land subsidence-hit area after massive cracks appeared across the town.? ?
As per official data, 131 families have been relocated so far, including 37 evacuated on Tuesday, while the number of damaged houses stands at 723. There are 86 houses in the area demarcated as an unsafe zone.
Over the last 18 months, the hill town of Joshimath has been sinking at a very high rate of 6-6.5 cm yearly; a new study has shown.
On Tuesday, Indian space scientists revealed satellite images indicating a "significant" subsidence rate in Joshimath between July 2020 and March 2022.
"Joshimath is sinking at a rate of 6-6.5 cm per year as per the satellite images. The reason could be manifold. We have been looking at the satellite data since 2015, but the analysis would take some time," a scientist at Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, told Deccan Herald.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear on January 16 a plea seeking the court's intervention to declare the Joshimath crisis as a national disaster.
However, the bench, which had Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, refused to list the plea filed for urgent hearing.
"There are democratically elected institutions to look into it. Everything important should not come to us. We will list it on January 16," the Chief Justice of India said.
Meanwhile, cracks in a few houses in the Kanwariganj area of Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh has triggered panic among locals. According to the local administration, a team is expected to inspect the affected areas.
The locals alleged that a pipeline laid down by the government under the Smart City scheme is leaking and leading to house cracks. They say they submitted a complaint with the concerned authorities 3-4 days back, but action has yet to be taken.
Also, fresh cracks have appeared in houses in another town of Uttarakhand amid panic due to land subsidence in Joshimath. More than 50 houses developed significant gaps in Karnaprayag. The residents of Karnaprayag, 80 km away from Joshimath, have left their homes, fearing another disaster.
(With inputs from ANI)
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