'Morainic foundation, population, building pressure behind the crisis'

Dehradun: Scientific and technical institutions studying land subsidence in Joshimath have attributed the crisis to the hill town's location on a slope over morainic deposits or loose sediments, population pressure, construction of multi-storeyed buildings and the absence of a system for proper disposal of water coming from the upper reaches.

Though the reports are separate and approach the problem from different angles, they are largely in concurrence with each other on the combination of factors that may have led to the aggravation of the situation in Joshimath early this year.

Joshimath's susceptibility to land subsidence because of being located on a foundation of loose sediments coupled with increasing population pressure and multi-storeyed buildings, including hotels, in the town are some of the factors cited in nearly all the reports submitted by eight different institutions.

The Central Building Research Institute, Central Ground Water Board, Geological Survey of India, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee, National Institute of Hydrology, National Geophysical Research Institute, and Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology were engaged to conduct a study of the problem when it was at its worst in January this year.

The institutions submitted their separate reports to the National Disaster Management Authority by the end of January 2023 but they were not made public until the Uttarakhand High Court intervened, questioning the justification for not releasing them.

The Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority made the reports public by uploading them on its official website on Sunday following the high court's intervention.

Hearing a PIL recently, it had questioned the justification for not making the reports public. Put together, the reports run into more than 700 pages.

Cracks and fissures had appeared on houses and on the ground in Joshimath in January this year causing concern which led the authorities to evacuate a large number of people, especially those living in the worst-hit Sunil, Singdhar and Marwari wards of the town, to temporary relief centres.

"There is a need for reviewing the principles of town planning for development of towns in hilly regions with rigorous stress on good construction typology, practices, material, regulatory mechanism, and awareness among the stakeholders based on geo-technical and geo-climatic condition," the CBRI said in its recommendation.

The recommendation was based on extensive physical damage assessment survey of 2,364 buildings, spread over 2.8 sqm hilly terrain, in nine administrative zones in Joshimath, it said.

It also recommended that construction activities in spring zone area should be immediately stopped.