MyVoice: Views of our readers 10th January 2023

Himalayan horror due to human greed

People of Joshimath, the Himalayan pilgrim town that appears to be sinking, are blaming major power and road infrastructure projects for their plight and are demanding that the government resettle and give new homes for all those who have lost their properties in the town where they had invested their life savings. Joshimath is causing a jolt in our minds about safe and secured living. The sight and image of shaking and cracking homes all provides us the reality in life. We all know that there will be geological surprises in the Himalayan sub strata. Major construction activities put paid hopes. In the name of improving tourism, an ecological destruction was slowly being sown.

C K Subramaniam, Mumbai

Apropos "People's safety paramount" (9 Jan). It is not clear why even when it comes to the safety of people, the state government still needs the PMO to come to its risk and why everything is left to PM Modi. It looks like during the Congress government many times it would be left to Sonia Gandhi. What is happening in Uttarakhand is a warning signal to all hill and pilgrimage states and sites. What is now happening in the name of promoting tourism is the holy places are being turned into picnic spots, which means tourists need places to stay and hence constructions. North East development also needs careful handling as otherwise the environment would be the first victim.

N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

In the wake of deepening cracks in houses and crumbling roads in the ancient hill town of Joshimath en route to Badrinath, on account of aggressive construction activities, fear engulfs the residents in the biting cold even as affected people are shifted to safer locations. Notwithstanding warnings from various experts from time to time to stop blasting hills for a thermal power project and heavy construction activities, it is unfortunate that successive governments never paid heed and went on to undertake big projects despite these activities led to ecological imbalance and consequent disaster in the past and in the recent years. Notwithstanding the fact that several hundreds of people were killed last year in the vicinity of Joshimath due to Chamoli disaster, it is shocking that no lessons appear to have been learnt.

K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad

Joshimath, the gateway to many pilgrim and tourist centres in the Himalayas, is sinking solely due to the apathy over decades of politicians and officials. Why should it always take a tragedy to jolt and stir the conscience of both the government and the society, which is too late to contain the ongoing crisis It was pointed out as back as 1976 that Joshimath is situated on a hollow earth womb, whose soil and debris are very weak and flowing like water, due to which the houses would crack and the ground would cave in. The report should have found credence in the town planning department annals so as to stop any high-rise buildings and heavy infrastructure coming up in the area. Joshimath is a sensitive seismic zone 5 area. Even this fact is buried deep, with the result that years of neglect are now causing irreparable devastation to Joshimath. The utmost one can do is take steps to save lives who are sadly getting uprooted from their hard-built and ancestral homes. What a waste!

D Pitchaiah, Kurnool

Experts attribute the land subsidence that has caused the cracks in the houses, roads and fields in the 'sinking' town of Joshimath mainly to its geographical location (at a height of over 6000 feet) in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region, geological factors like accumulation of sediments and the presence of weak rocks and unsustainable development. Nature does not take kindly to human interference beyond a limit. Anthropogenic intervention exacerbates the region's vulnerability to disasters. Large-scale construction activity and hydropower projects that have disturbed the ecology of the region and contributed to making it almost a 'danger zone' cannot be glossed over. Construction projects must be reviewed in the light of the occurrence of land subsidence and the humanitarian tragedy it has triggered. Widening roads for ease of access to the pilgrimage centres in the region must be reassessed. The choice between 'development' and 'preservation of dev bhoomi should not be difficult to make. The impact of the global phenomenon of climate change on the region affected by extreme weather events too must be studied to evolve and mount a more robust response. The current situation should be responded to by taking action to save the historic site in the foothills of the Himalayas.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN