Joshimath may face serious threat in monsoon, geological report should be made public: Youth for Himalaya

The members of the ‘Youth for Himalayas’ group who came to support the ongoing movement in Joshimath held a press conference in Gopeshwar and raised their concerns and demands on the situation in Joshimath and the entire Himalayas. Youth for Himalaya is a group of environment loving youth from Himalayan states which works on the issues of environmental crisis in the Himalayan region.

This 8 member team of youths visited the disaster affected area of ​​Joshimath from 13th to 14th April, interacted with the affected people and got to know their problems. Along with this, on 13th April, on the 100th day of dharna organized by Joshmeeth Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, it expressed its support for their struggle.

Ritika Thakur, a member of the group and a resident of Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, said that while visiting Singhdhar, Sunil, Manohar Bagh, Swee etc. in Joshimath, we found that most of the affected are from poor and Dalit families, whose houses were badly affected. Are. The relief given by the government to the affected people is not enough. Children, elderly and women are suffering the most in this development.

Also, the process of compensation decided by the administration is very complicated for the general public. People have to visit the offices again and again to get paper made. This is not only breaking their daily wages but also wasting a lot of time.

Ritika said that the term of the hotels in which the affected have been kept so far is also ending at the end of April. People are wondering where they will go after this. The government should make arrangements for them under the National Rehabilitation Policy 2007.

Members of Youth for Himalayas said that we demand that an empowered committee should be formed taking along the affected people of Joshimath, which will work for monitoring rehabilitation, compensation, displacement and basic needs. Also, take measures to prevent future disasters.

Sumit, a member of the group and a resident of Pithoragarh, sensing the danger of the coming monsoon in the future, said that all the Himalayan states witness huge devastation during the monsoon. We have seen the Uttarakhand tragedy and Kedarnath devastation in June 2013 and the entire Himalayan region has become hypersensitive due to wrong government policies. We have seen with our own eyes the present condition of the entire Joshimath. Independent geologists have also repeatedly said that the entire Joshimath is at risk.

Sumit further said that the monsoon is about to come. The cracks in the houses are going to create more serious problems during the rainy season. Recently, the Chief Minister has given the message of ‘Safe Joshimath’ during his tour, yet fear and doubts remain among the local people. If Joshimath is really safe then the government should make public the report of the eight organizations which have done geological studies of Joshimath so that the doubts of the local people can be resolved and Chardham Yatris can feel safe.

He said that from Uttarakhand to Jammu-Kashmir, Himachal, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal etc. indiscriminate development projects (hydro power projects, road projects, mining) have created a severe environmental crisis in all the Himalayan states. Due to this crisis, not only the environment has been affected, but the life and livelihood of the people of the Himalayas have also been affected.

Addressing the press conference, group member Mohammad Ishaq Van Gujjar said that this disaster is not a natural disaster but it is a disaster arising out of government policies. There is an atmosphere of fear among the local people due to the manner in which houses have been marked and declared dangerous by the administration. We believe that the entire Joshimath itself is in danger. Therefore, we demand from the state government that the entire Joshimath area should be declared full disaster.

Anmol, who is associated with Youth and Himalayas, told the press that our group had appealed to the youth at all India level to show their support with the slogan ‘Save Joshimath, Save Himalayas’ in support of completion of 100 days of people’s dharna of Joshimath. Express it. Under this, various programs have been organized at Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, Kinnaur, Jammu city, Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, Teesta Valley in Sikkim, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad in Telangana, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Jodhpur in Rajasthan and other places. .