Eyewitnesses said the crack seems to have developed due to monsoon rains
A6-feet deep hole appeared in a field in Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district amidst the monsoon rains, sparking fresh fears. Eyewitnesses said the crack seems to have developed due to monsoon rains.
“I discovered a hole at least 6ft deep in a small field near my house. It appears to have been developed due to monsoon rains,” a resident of Sunil ward was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying.
The eyewitness added that residents fear more damage to structures in town due to rain. The cracks in already damaged houses are also expanding slowly, he added.
Earlier this year in January, hundreds of families were shifted to safer locations after several houses in town developed dangerous cracks.
According to a PTI report, fissures had appeared on the road connecting Narasingh temple in subsidence-hit Joshimath and Badrinath in February 2023 as well. The road is used for taking pilgrims from Joshimath to Badrinath during the yatra season.
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Cracks in walls and buildings in Joshimath were first reported in 2021, as Chamoli experienced frequent landslides and flooding. According to reports, the Uttarakhand government’s expert panel, upon inspection in 2022, found that several pockets of Joshimath are “sinking”.
As many as 868 structures have developed cracks in Joshimath and 181 have been declared unsafe so far.
A group of residents led by Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti recently met Chamoli district magistrate Himanshu Khurana at district headquarters in Gopeshwar and discussed possible threats to the town during the monsoon.
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Earlier, Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti had withdrawn its 107-day-old sit-in protest after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami assured them of concrete action on its 11-point charter of demands.
According to a PTI report, Samiti’s demands include simplification of the process for providing compensation to the affected people and making the report of a joint study conducted by various scientific institutions on the land subsidence crisis in Joshimath publicly available.
