A public interest litigation (PIL) has been moved before the Delhi High Court seeking the constitution of a high-power committee, chaired by a retired high court judge, to look into the sinking of land and development of cracks at over 500 homes in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath.
The plea moved by Delhi-based advocate Rohit Dandriyal, who is a permanent resident of Kotdwara in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district, also seeks a direction to the Centre to inspect the affected areas immediately and to rehabilitate the displaced residents of the city. The Centre, through the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Power, New and Renewable Energy and the Ministry of Home Affairs, has been mentioned as the respondent in the PIL.
The plea will be mentioned for listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma on January 9, Monday.
The PIL states that as a result of continued land subsidence, cracks have developed in “at least 570 houses” in Joshimath, affecting 3,000 residents. “After sinking of land, apparently caused by climate and infrastructural changes, over 60 families are reported to have left town. Officials said 29 families were taken to safer places by the administration. Nearly 500 families are either risking their lives by still living in the houses, or are looking for accommodation at other places in biting cold. More than 3,000 people are affected, said the municipality chief. That is over 10 per cent of the population,” the plea says.
“In one of the strangest phenomenon to strike the holy town nestled in the serene hills of Chamoli at a height of 6,000 ft, houses started developing cracks and damages since 2021, leaving residents anxious and worried. Since the first reports of the cracks in 2021 after landslides in Chamoli, over 570 houses have sustained damages or cracks as residents experienced seismic tremors repeatedly in the subsequent years,” it adds.
Citing that Joshimath is the gateway to several climbing expeditions in the Himalayas, houses the Rs 1,900-crore Vishnuprayag hydro-electric plant, and that the national highway has invested Rs 12,000 crore in the region through the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), a representation was made by Dandriyal on January 6 to the three ministries to constitute a “high-power joint committee to look into this immediately for the affected areas” so that rehabilitation of people can be started as soon as possible “because every second is crucial to avoid any other casualty”.
The plea also claims that the construction activity carried out by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Power, New and Renewable Energy in Joshimath has “worked as a catalyst in the present scenario” and has violated the fundamental rights of the residents.