Joshimath city may be in serious danger in the coming monsoon
Geological reports made by 8 organizations should be made public: Youth for Himalaya
The members of the Youth for Himalaya group who came to support the ongoing movement in Joshimath held a press conference in Gopeshwar and presented their concerns and demands. Youth for Himalaya is a group of environment loving youth of Himalayan states which works on the issues of environmental crisis in the Himalayan region. This team of youth visited the disaster affected area of Joshimath from 13th to 14th April, interacted with the affected people and got to know their problems. Also, on 13th April, on the 100th day of the dharna being run by the Joshmeeth Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, it expressed its support for their struggle.
Addressing the press conference, group member Mohd Ishaq Van Gurjar (Uttarakhand) said that the manner in which the houses have been marked and declared dangerous by the administration is not correct, we believe that the entire Joshimath is in danger. Is. Raising the question, he said that the affected have told us that when three-four houses nearby have been marked as dangerous, how come the houses left in the middle are not unsafe? There is an atmosphere of fear among the people, so we demand from the government that the entire Joshimath area be declared disaster-hit.
Group member Ritika Thakur (Mandi, Himachal Pradesh) said that while visiting Singhdhar ward, we found that most of the affected are poor and Dalit families, whose houses have been badly affected. They told us that the relief given to them by the government is not enough. Our children’s education has been affected. Many times they have to change their homes. Also, the process of compensation has been made very complicated for the general public. Time and again people have to go round the offices to make paper. Due to this, not only their daily wages are being broken, but a lot of time is also being wasted. We feel that the government is adopting the attitude of evasiveness that the people themselves should leave the hope of compensation and go and settle somewhere.
Group member Sumit (Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand) sensing the danger of coming monsoon in future said that all the Himalayan states witness heavy destruction during monsoon, we have seen Uttarakhand tragedy, devastation of Kedarnath in June 2013. Every year the Himalayan states are at risk of heavy casualties due to floods, cloud bursts, landslides, road accidents etc. Most of the houses and fields in Joshimath have small or big cracks, some houses have collapsed badly. Some big stones are resting on iron rods. When it rains, these cracks will widen further due to water filling, due to which the entire Joshimath area is in danger. Due to the message given by the Chief Minister of a safe Joshimath by running a marathon here, apprehensions remain among the local people. In order to strengthen the security of the local people and the Chardham Yatris, the report of the eight organizations which have carried out geological investigation should be issued, so that people can get a correct idea of the situation.
