Caught between a rock and a hard place: Joshimath faces an uncertain future

Educators need a plan ambitious enough to remedy enormous learning losses

After what happened in Tehri, the vexed rehabilitation issue concerning crisis-ridden Joshimath has come back to haunt the Uttarakhand government.

With Joshimath facing an uncertain future owing to land subsidence, which has caused widespread cracks in houses and roads and water seepage, a demand is also growing in certain quarters for setting up a new Joshimath for the rehabilitation of the affected people on the lines of New Tehri.

New Tehri town was built after the planning of the mega 2,400-Mw Tehri hydel project in the Garhwal region to settle the dam-affected people.

New Tehri town is now the district headquarters of Tehri district. But rehabilitation has remained a major headache for successive governments in the state. Scores of people evicted by the Tehri dam were uprooted for a second time following the expansion of Jollygrant airport after they were settled in nearby areas like Athoorwala in Dehradun district.

Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana said the government was conducting scientific surveys to find suitable places for rehabilitating the affected people. Already, some nearby areas like Kotibagh are being identified for this.

Supporting the demand, state Congress President Karan Mehra has called for an early rehabilitation of the people, saying the party is wholeheartedly supporting the demand to set up a new Joshimath.

“We have made a survey and suggested some places close to old Joshimath,” said Mehra. But he made it clear that there should be no contradiction regarding the rehabilitation of the people. He also said the government’s decision to provide an interim relief of Rs 1.50 lakh per family in Joshimath was the result of the pressure being built up by the Congress. “We are standing by the people of Joshimath in this hour of crisis. We will not allow the government to remain indecisive on the issue,” said Mehra.

State Congress Vice-President Surya Kant Dhasmana has asked the Centre to declare Joshimath a “national calamity”.

Though the state government is not speaking openly on the issue of a new Joshimath, a couple of BJP (ruling party in the state) leaders have supported the demand.

“We support the rehabilitation of the affected people. But when the people are rehabilitated, the carrying or loading capacity of the particular area should be taken into consideration,” said Kishore Upadhayay, BJP MLA from Tehri, who had once fought against his own Congress government on Tehri rehabilitation.

“We should take into consideration the difficulties people are facing in New Tehri,” he said.

Holding the Tapovan Vishnugad project responsible for the widespread cracks in Joshimath, the Congress MLA from Badrinath, Rajendra Bhandari, has threatened to launch an agitation if the affected people are not rehabilitated immediately.

“Where is the double-engine government? We are warning the government that it should take immediate steps to rehabilitate the affected people in Joshimath,” said Bhandari. He also supported the demand for establishing a new Joshimath.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said the government is focusing on shifting the people from the danger zone.

“We are not going to demolish residential houses as of now. Instead, we will shift people from the houses falling in the danger zone,” said Dhami.

Top environmentalists have blamed NTPC for the crisis. 

“We must consider the bearing capacity of a particular hill area before taking any decision regarding our development plans. We are now facing the repercussions of unplanned aggressive development in Joshimath,” said Anil Joshi, a Padma Bhushan awardee.

The affected people are being temporarily shifted to make-shift tents, where they are being provided food and various other facilities, top officials said.

They said the Chamoli district administration had started demolishing two hotels — the Mallari Inn and Mount View —which had tilted on each other in the wake of the land subsidence, which is occurring because of the lack of hard rocks in Joshimath.

“There is no hard rock in Joshimath. Joshimath is situated on a mass of landslides. Land subsidence is occurring due to these reasons,” said Chief Secretary S S Sandhu, quoting fresh scientific reports.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are monitoring the developments. Both have assured all help from the Centre.