Gateway to Badrinath on brink of disaster

Strong resentment prevails among people against the Uttarakhand Government for the indifference with which it treated the warnings about the dangerous situation of buildings in Joshimath due to heavy construction activities going on around it

Joshimath, the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib and the international skiing destination Auli, seems on the brink of a disaster.

Known as the place where Adi Guru Shankaracharya subjected himself to penance centuries ago, Joshimath is sinking gradually with huge cracks developing in its houses, roads and fields. Many houses have suffered subsidence, locals said.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered immediate evacuation of 600 families living in houses at risk.

A temple in Joshimath collapsed on Friday evening further alarming residents who have been living under constant fear amid heavily cracked walls of their houses for over a year.

"The problem began 14-15 months back in Gandhinagar area and then spread to other areas like Suneel, Manohar Bagh, Singdhar and Marwari," former Joshimath municipal chairman Rishi Prasad Sati said.

"Saklani family's house collapsed in Suneel but the alarm bells went ringing when huge cracks appeared around a fortnight ago on the walls of hotels Mountain View and Malari Inn, leading to their closure," he said.

Five families who lived in houses beneath the hotels lost their homes after that, he said.