The world is divided between leaders and their blind followers, who think diabolically opposite to each other. For one side, climate change is a hoax, while for others, it has become a money-minting machine. In the name of protests to safeguard the environment, insane protests are held even against eco-friendly projects. In this debate of charged up extremes, finding a reasonable common ground has been a challenge of its own.
However, the recurring disasters happening all throughout the world give glaring evidence of nature’s fury. So, it becomes important that, rather than being cynic of the cynical eco-fascists, development projects cater to the needs of nature and strike the right balance of coherence with it.
The brewing disaster in Joshimath can be a good learning curve in this direction.
Could Joshimath have been saved from the impending disaster?
The Hindu holy town of Joshimath is virtually on the brink of undergoing a mass exodus. As per media reports, around 561 houses have developed irreparable cracks that are only getting wider with each passing moment. Additionally, there have been occurrences of seepage in several houses and open places. All the wards in the area have been affected by landslides.
As per ANI, more than 66 frightened households have permanently left the town. The residents claim that the Hindu holy town has been “gradually sinking” for quite a long time now.
Joshimath Municipal Chairman Shailendra Pawar stated that the process of crack development has even started in Singhdhar and Marwadi. With the passage of time and the absence of concrete measures to nip the problem in the bud, the entire town has virtually suffered irreversible losses.
Further, the vertical sinking of land and land subsidence in Joshimath has put the crucial Badrinath National Highway in the dock.
Reasons for the dilapidated state of Joshimath
As per an IIT Roorkee expert, the land subsidence in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath was caused by a combination of human activities as well as natural causes. Dr Satyendra Mittal, a Civil Engineering Professor at Roorkee IIT, reasoned that the unplanned construction activities taking place in the region are man-made activities that are to be partially blamed for the miserable state of the town.
Professor Mittal said, “There is under-construction activity in the affected area; the tunnel work is going on and its lining is not yet complete. So in this situation, water inside the tunnel seeping out from any point of the tunnel is not surprising.”
He added, “The water which is seeping out from some unknown place of the tunnel must be getting accumulated somewhere and when that water gets accumulated beyond the land’s capacity, it increases Hydrostatic pressure, whose aftermath is land subsidence”.
It is not the case that the residents or the authorities had no clue of this catastrophe. The region has been sending red signals for a long time. Exactly similar frightful events, only a little lesser in severity, happened during the October month, last year.
Read More: Dear Prime Minister Modi, Joshimath needs your urgent attention
At that time, the study of scientists revealed that lack of drainage, improper construction of buildings, erosion of the river, and rapid construction projects were making the area of Joshimath highly susceptible to natural calamities.
The area, in fact the whole of Devbhumi, falls in a Seismic prone zone, so any unplanned or orthodox style of construction was always leading towards a detrimental situation, yet the local authorities were caught wanting to plan accordingly and impose strict restrictions on such unplanned construction activities.
This entire belt has suffered medium- to high-intensity earthquakes at regular intervals that could have played a conducive role in this land subsidence. Apart from the above reasons, the growing pressure of the human population and their reckless damage to the environment have to take a substantial share of the blame for the current sorry state of the holy town.
The way forward
Since the unfortunate news came to fore, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami has been directing the authorities to provide all the necessary support and relief for the residents, including evacuating them to a safer place. He has also formed an expert committee of scientists that will look into the causes and solutions of this problem. Further, he is himself leading the rescue and rehabilitation operations.
According to the official statement, engineers from the Geological Survey of India, Wadia Institute, and IIT Roorkee have been included in the team formed on the instructions of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dhami.
Additionally, the locals claimed that the government has assured the affected households that it will provide prefabricated houses. As per media reports, the Prime Minister’s Office is also closely monitoring the Joshimath land subsidence incident.
After the evacuation is completed, the authorities have to ponder on the fact whether they failed to properly plan for environmentally friendly development work in the naturally disaster-prone area. Could this fate for the town have been avoided had the government authorities swung into action in time when similar happenings were noted in October last year? Further, after the rehabilitation and rescue operations, the government has to ensure that it draft a future plan so that, in the wake of development work, more such happenings are not ignored and no town nears the fate of Joshimath.
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