Joshimath Calamity
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Reports on the sinking town of Joshimath get worse. Water is now said to be gushing out of fields while houses are developing cracks. In fact, parts of the hill town may have sunk by nearly 2.2 feet (70 cm) based on ground investigation of affected areas carried out recently. The gateway to famous pilgrimage sites is indeed facing subsidence and hitting headlines these past few days. Moreover, the latest report is way ahead of ISRO’s survey on surface deformation which found 5.4 cm subsidence in just past 12 days. Obviously, the hill town, as also many others, is unable to keep pace with rapid urbanisation and the heavy tourist inflow during summer season. The state authorities have ignored warnings by experts who have repeatedly cautioned about the area’s vulnerability.
For past few decades, the entire region from Chamoli to Joshimath has been familiar with disasters. The glacial avalanche known as the Chamoli disaster led to flash floods in the Rishiganga and Dhaulganga rivers, tributaries of the Ganga, in February 2021. The disaster killed 200-odd people, including workers trapped in the Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower plant’s tunnel on Dhaulaganga river. Worse, despite the region’s geological and environmental sensitivity, numerous hydroelectric projects, including Vishnugad hydel project have been approved in areas such as Joshimath and Tapovan.
A scientific study ‘Joshimath localized subsidence and erosion of the AT Nala’ carried out way back in 2006 by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, revealed that parts of the town were “sliding by one cm every year”. But even then, the NTPC is building two tunnels as part of its hydro-electric project, opposed by geologists with some warning if the tunneling work is not shelved, Joshimath, gateway to Badrinath, may sink. Experts expressed urgency on the need to find a passage for the water coming out of the ground. The road and tunnel constructions in a fragile mountain ecosystem are creating havoc and leading to the present-day crisis in Joshimath and this is being done despite objections raised by environmental engineers and seismologists.
Executive Director of Uttarakhand Disaster Management Authority, Piyoosh Routela, had in a scientific journal in May 2010 cautioned that Joshimath has been “showing signs of distress due to burgeoning anthropogenic (human-induced) pressure”. He pointed out that the town is covered with a thick layer of overburdened material. Large boulders of gneisses and fragments of basics and schistose rocks are embedded in grey-coloured, silty-sandy matrix. This makes the town highly vulnerable to sinking.
Over the years, experts have highlighted the lack of enforcement of building laws leading to unplanned settlement and weak structures, unmindful of the carrying capacity of the town that witnesses high tourist inflows every summer. Moreover, the town does not have proper drainage facilities. According to Y.P. Sundriyal of HNB Garhwal University: “The gradually weathering of fine materials between the rocks of debris, water percolation has decreased the cohesive strength of the rocks over time. This resulted in landslides, triggering cracks in the houses”.
Obviously, too much construction has caused several large-scale landslides. Between 2009 and 2012, CSIR chief scientist Kanungo recorded 128 landslides in the Chamoli-Joshimath region. He published his findings in Landslides: Journal of the International Consortium on Landslides, in 2014. In 2018, a report published in Current Science highlighted major landslides in the region, including the massive landslide on May 19, 2017, at Vishnuprayag, the confluence of the Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers, eight km from Joshimath.
In 2021, the 13.2 MW Rishiganga Hydropower Project and the 520 MW NTPC Hydropower Project turned a natural disaster into a major human tragedy. The NDMA report on the Chamoli disaster in April 2022 clearly stated that it will be necessary to focus on finding alternative sources of energy, as the area appears to be environmentally sensitive.
Meanwhile, investigations have prompted geologists to attribute the cracks to accelerated sinking in parts of the town triggered by the sudden discharge of the aquifer’s water since the night of January 2-3. But this crisis was predicted long ago. Even as recently as August, a team of geologists visited towns around Joshimath and noticed cracks in specific locations named in Sema, Sunil and Ravigram. The team in its report recommended counter measures including steps to enhance the drainage facilities and control erosion along the segments of the Alakananda river, north of the town.
Thus, it is believed that a major portion of the damaged houses need to be permanently removed and population shifted to a safer location after implementation of landslide zonation areas. As regards the rehabilitation process, land has already been identified at three locations – Koti Colony, Jati Booti Udyan and Pipalkoti – which are close to Joshimath. It is understood that Geological Survey of Indiawill conduct a study of these three locations and then the design of houses will be made as per proper specifications by the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI). Meanwhile, state authorities are also considering building vulnerability assessment and repair and retrofitting, where applicable, in the less affected zones.
Keeping the above in mind, it may be stated that there is a need for a scientific study of mountains to investigate the carrying capacity and the structural characteristics. In this connection, it’s good to know that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has decided to carry out a technical and scientific study of all cities and towns in the hills and that construction will be stopped in places found to have exceeded the carrying capacity. Any future development plan would be done based on its findings, he had announced a few days back.
So far, 782 houses from an earlier estimate of 678 houses have been affected due to ground subsidence and 81 families shifted to safer places. At the same time it has been reported that Karnaprayag, located 82 km south-west of Joshimath, is too sinking. As in Joshimath, some houses have developed major fissures and others have become inhabitable, forcing families to spend nights in the municipal council’s shelter in the chilling cold.
The fact that Joshimath being a key tourism point, specially pertaining to religious tourism, makes the issue more complicated. Strict adherence to experts’ views needs to be followed, which are not much different from earlier studies. However, there must be a balance in that tourists should not face much hardship and travel to the religious places may be safe and easy.
It cannot be denied that the hills, just like cities, need investment and infrastructure. But that has to be scientifically planned, keeping in mind the geological factors. Faster travel facilities and large-scale construction can wait till scientific scrutiny is conducted. Apart from Joshimath, which has made headlines, it is time to ponder whether construction of a railway line in quake prone Gangtok would be advisable and pursued without getting the scientific nod. The authorities must remember the idiom: a stitch in time saves nine. —INFA