Center Urgent Action Needed: Road Fissures Threaten Char Dham Yatra Route

The Uttarakhand government has announced that the Char Dham Yatra will begin on April 22 this year, with the portals to the Badrinath shrine opening on April 27. However, new cracks have appeared on the road between JP Colony in subsidence-hit Joshimath and Marwari on the Badrinath Highway.

Locals in Joshimath have reported that a few cracks appeared on the 10-km stretch in January, but they have widened in the last few days and new cracks have appeared.

Nitin Semwali, a resident of Joshimath, stated, “The cracks have appeared on the road from JP Colony to Marwari. Some cracks had appeared on the road in the first week of January when about a 15 feet-long crack developed on a boundary wall of Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd (JPVL) premises with water gushing out from them. The cracks, however, have widened and some new cracks too have developed.”

Sanjay Uniyal, a member of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, mentioned that the recent developments have occurred mostly in the last three days. “At two places in the Chhawani Bazar area, a crater of around 1.5 ft in diameter developed on the road. We tried measuring the depth using a reinforcing steel bar, and the entire 10 ft long bar went inside,” said Uniyal.

Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurrana did not respond to calls, but was quoted by a news agency as saying that instructions have been issued to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to take protective measures.

“People complained about cracks in some houses, and a team of engineers posted in Joshimath were sent to examine it,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, no new houses have developed cracks in Joshimath in over 10 days, keeping the number of houses affected by land subsidence and landslides to 868 by Monday. According to the bulletin issued by the Chamoli district administration, 181 houses have been identified in the unsafe zone so far. As of now, 878 members of 243 families have been shifted to temporary shelters for security.

Earlier this week, the Uttarakhand cabinet approved the proposed policy regarding compensation and permanent displacement of land and buildings of disaster-affected families/individuals in the Joshimath area. According to the policy, the affected owners can choose one of the three options given.