Joshimath Crisis Updates: Badrinath Head Priest Urges Authorities to Halt Works Affecting Himalayan Region

Easwaraprasad Namboothiri, the ‘Rawal’ or head priest of the Badrinath shrine expressed concern over land subsidence at Joshimath in Uttarakhand and urged the authorities to stop the projects that harm nature and the people of the hilltop town.

Parts of Joshimath may have reportedly sunk by 2.2 feet, a ground investigation on Saturday revealed, putting the figure way above an ISRO study that stated that the town had sunk 5.4 cm in 12 days, which has now been taken down.

Top Updates:

• Ground study reveals Joshimath may have sunk by nearly 2.2 feet. As per report by Times of India, sources associated with a field investigation by experts revealed 70 cm subsidence in a part of the town where a land aquifier had burst, while other parts had sunk by 7-10 cm.
• 223 families evacuated. Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Sinha said a survey was conducted of 782 buildings and 754 members of 223 families have been shifted to safe locations.
• Heater provided to relief camps. With icy winds sweeping Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, the administration on Saturday provided electric heaters to temporary relief centres in subsidence-hit Joshimath even as 38 more families were evacuated from the affected areas, officials said, as per PTI. The government also made arrangements for bonfires at 10 places, they said.
• NDMA asks ISRO, other bodies not to share data publicly. After Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared a study stating that Joshimath sank 5.4 cm in 12 days, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday directed concerned departments to not interact with media or share any data publicly. Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Dhan Singh Rawat told The Hindu that the State government spoke to ISRO and other departments, including Wadia Institute, IIT Roorkee, CBRI, GIS Kolkata, NIDM New Delhi, IIRS Dehradun, and NGRI Hyderabad, informing them not to to share reports that create panic among residents.
• Selang village is going Joshimath way, say locals. Selang, a village around five km from subsidence-hit Joshimath, is likely to meet a similar fate as cracks and fissures have been appearing in fields and several houses for the past few months. The villagers hold the construction of NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project responsible for their plight.
• The demolition of hotel Malari Inn went on amid stepped up efforts to distribute the amount of Rs 1.50 lakh to each affected family as interim relief.

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