Joshimath, a place which opens gates towards, holy pilgrimages like one of Char Dham i.e. Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib, India’s Last Village- Mana, & World UNESCO Heritage site- Valley of Flowers is declared as Landslide and Subsidence-Hit zone. The town is red lined under delicate zone, after cracks appearing in more than 600 houses of Joshimath. After the outrage, fear, protests in locals and high level meeting among government officials, the matter comes in to limelight. As per locals, the Cracks in their homes are developing and widening overnight due to which living in their own houses is now under threat. The officials declared it red zone and locals have asked to leave the town as soon as possible.
As per experts, it is stated that, Joshimath is situated on the Old Landslide debris, which is considering as major factor for the situation. But this situation hasn’t appeared overnight. In 1976, the warning of the same crisis has been warned by officials about sinking of Joshimath, and to put full stop on various heavy constructive projects. Obviously, we can see the warning wasn’t taken serious than.
There are various number of Hydro power plant also being built under Chamoli district. Over the period of time, there has been several constructive projects had taken place in the area. As the place is already commercialized due to Pilgrims, tourists and travelers, Roads have been laid and tunnels bored to improve connectivity and build infrastructure.
Only in 2021, various disaster took place in Uttarakhand, where more than 300 people lost there lives in so called Natural Calamities. Today, locals of Joshimath have lost their homes are now tenterhooks. The officials are trying to come up with a solutions, will these solutions going to be enough for 20,000 people of town? Can Joshimath be saved?