Joshimath crisis deepens: Number of buildings with cracks rises to 849

Joshimath: The crisis in Joshimath has deepened as the number of buildings with cracks has risen to 849, about hundreds more than what was reported just 2-3 days ago. Of these, 165 buildings are located in the danger zone. The authorities have shifted the families living in the danger zone to safer places. So far, over 200 families have been shifted and hundreds of houses have been vacated.    

On Sunday, reports emerged that two more hotels were dangerously leaning towards each other while wider cracks appeared near Auli ropeway and in other areas of Joshimath. The process of demolishing two hotels Malari Inn and Mount View which were declared unsafe was still underway. Around 100 metres from the site, two more hotels - Snow Crest and Comet - have dangerously tilted towards each other.

Snow Crest owner's daughter Puja Prajapati said the gap between the two hotels was around four feet earlier but now it had narrowed to just a few inches with their roofs nearly touching each other.

Wider cracks have appeared near the Joshimath-Auli ropeway, which was shut after land subsidence incidents were reported from the town. Considered one of Asia's largest, the 4.5 km ropeway connects Joshimath located at 6000 ft with the skiing destination of Auli at an altitude of 9000 feet.

On Monday, the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (JBSS) urged the Centre to take over the relief and rehabilitation work in Joshimath as it said the Uttarakhand government was adopting a "lackadaisical" approach. The Samiti also raised the pitch for scrapping NTPC's under-construction Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, JBSS convenor Atul Sati said the state government ignored its warnings about the imminent disaster for 14 months and now the crisis has endangered the very existence of a historic town. The Samiti demanded the scrapping of NTPC's power project, saying the building of its tunnel was responsible for the current disaster in Joshimath.

Sati said that L&T company was initially building the tunnel for the NTPC, but had to quit as it was not satisfied with the way the corporation worked. He also cited a research paper published in an international journal in 2015 which said the tunnel was dug in the 'fault zone'.