Article | A lesson from Joshimath : Don't play with environment and climate | Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh | Central Chronicle

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A lesson from Joshimath : Don't play with environment and climate
       -    Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh
Writer, Author & Social Activist
Blogger - "Climate Diary Of Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh"

*Today, the importance of Joshimath is not only because it is an area of religious importance, but also because it is sacrificing itself to teach us a lesson. He is reminding not to run blindly in the race for development. First check the condition of environment and climate, then take steps for any major construction. That too keeping in mind that the damage caused to the environment and climate can be compensated. Remember that our rigid looking land rests on tectonic plates floating on liquids. Any construction of skyscrapers, dams or tunnels without checking these plates or testing their fragility can repeat the Joshimath disaster. That's why it is important that we take lessons from the Joshimath disaster.*

In October 2021, cracks appeared for the first time in some houses in Joshimath city of Uttarakhand. A year later, as of January 11, 723 houses in all nine wards of the city have developed major or minor cracks in the floors, ceilings and walls. Poles were uprooted in many houses. In response, 145 families have been temporarily moved to safer locations within the city. Joshimath at an altitude of 6,107 feet is a busy town in Chamoli district. Despite a population of around 23,000, it is heavily built up with hotels, resorts and a bustling market, which mainly caters to tourists, pilgrims, trekkers and personnel of the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

When the famous Swiss geologist Arnold Heim and colleague Augusto Gaster undertook the first expedition on the geological structure of the Central Himalayas in 1936, they recorded their travelogue "The Throne of the Gods (1938)" and research work "Central Himalaya: Geological The Observations of the Swiss Expedition 1936 (1939) identified the presence of tectonic rifts, the Main Central Fault (MCT), and described the area from Helang to Tapovan in Chamoli Garhwal as geologically sensitive. Research and studies on the geology of the Central Himalayas progressed further. After this, in 1976, the Mishra Committee also studied and declared Joshimath as sensitive and gave suggestions for treatment. In 2022, the Disaster Management Department of the Government of Uttarakhand had also drawn the attention of the government towards the danger looming over Joshimath. After all these warnings, efforts were not made to save Joshimath, but a forest of huge buildings kept growing there. The water used by the increasing population kept descending into the womb of Joshimath. Today Joshimath is sliding down towards Alaknanda under the unbearable burden on the same swamp. The Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority constituted a multi-institutional team in August 2022 for the geological and geotechnical survey of the city. The team submitted its report in September, noting that Joshimath "stands on an unstable foundation that can be damaged by rain, irregular constructions. Apart from weak natural foundations, the report noted that many houses along the Joshimath-Auli road, Resorts and small hotels have been built which are weakening the land.
For some time, the speed of sliding of Joshimath has suddenly increased. The entire Joshimath is sinking due to the subsidence of the land. Hundreds of buildings are no longer habitable. In many places, wide cracks have also started emerging on the ground. In some places, water is coming out due to bursting of the ground. Cracks have also appeared on the walls of Jyotirpeeth, one of the four highest religious shrines in India. Geologists have already been warning to evacuate the city immediately.

Joshimath is not an ordinary city. It is Jyotirpeeth, one of the four supreme religious peeths established in the four corners of the country by Adiguru Shankaracharya to protect Sanatan Dharma. It is the ancient capital of Uttarakhand, from where the Katyuri dynasty initially ruled. This is where the formalities of the pilgrimage to the supreme pilgrimage Badrinath are completed. The seat of Shankaracharya resides here. This city is also the base of Valley of Flowers and Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. Hemkund Yatra is also controlled from here. Chinese movements on the Niti-Mana passes and the Barahoti plateau are monitored from this city. It is known that the Chinese army repeatedly tries to infiltrate from Barahoti side. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police battalion and its Mountain Training Center are here to keep an eye on them. This is also the headquarters of the Garhwal Scouts and the headquarters of the 9 Mountain Brigade.

This city with a population of 20-25 thousand is falling prey to uncontrolled short-sighted development. On one hand the tunnel of NTPC of Tapovan Vishnugad project hollowed out the ground from inside, on the other hand by digging at the root of the bypass road Joshimath shook the whole city from below. The reason for this is being told by NTPC's Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Project. In this project, a long tunnel is being made by cutting the mountains. This project was started about 2 years ago, after which cases of cracks in the ground started coming to the fore. According to environmentalists, the clues inside the Joshimath mountain region will act like a leaking balloon. The way water seeps out of a balloon and gradually loses its shape, something similar can happen in the mountains of this area.
Due to the imbalance of weight on the mountains, cracks started early, but such cracks can also occur in the plains. It is a matter to think that if we cut a very large scale of solid rock from one place, remove it from there, make a dam there, then in this way we hand over a stable land to unstable water with waves. Now it can be easily guessed that what will be the result? In this way we dig a pit for ourselves and get surrounded by troubles. Today, when we have sophisticated instruments from which we can see the condition of the earth within seven layers, then in this way the geographical element of climate should not be ignored. It doesn't matter what kind of land we are on, hilly or plain, because a danger like Joshimath can arise anywhere. The thing to remember is that if we play with the existence of the land, then the land too will not delay in erasing our existence. It is in our hands whether we want to live with a beautiful and safe nature or want to wander as manmade disaster refugees?
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(05.02.2023)
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