JOSHIMATH BACHAO SANGHARSH SAMITEE’S PROTEST COMPLETES 100 DAYS. The government’s efforts are not adequate say protestors.
THE JOSHIMATH BACHAO SANGHARSH SAMITTEE has completed its 100 th day of daily protest dharna at JOSHIMATH Court precincts in the holy town of Garhwal, Uttarakhand considered to be the main Gateway to Badrinath n magnificent Valley of flowers.
The chief of the SAVE JOSHIMATH STRUGGLE COMMITTEE Atul Sati and some other protestors were seen holding play cards with writings on its : JOSHIMATH MEIN SARKAR KE PRAYER NAKAAFI HAIN, meaning that the efforts of the government to provide relief to the sufferers of JOSHIMATH are not satisfactory and adequate. Good number of protestors majority of the women of the affected families congregate at the JOSHIMATH town near the offices of the higher ups in the holy town daily and register their protests raising slogans and deliberating on their grievances demanding relief to the affected displaced families.
Kindly recall that heavy cracks have been found in about more than 900 houses of JOSHIMATH and several portions of the holy town developed subsidence adversely affecting the lives of hundreds of residents living in this holy town for centuries.
The government of the state claims to be doing their best to resettle and rehabilitate the displaced families after the CM Pushkar Singh Dhami visited this town and deliberated with affected families including district magistrate and other senior officers directing them to expedite the relief and resettlement works to house and adequately financially compensate the affected families. The government had also allocated Rs. 1000 crores to provide relief to the affected families in the state budget of 2023-24.
However, the agitating women and men are not satisfied with the ongoing government relief and rehabilitation exercise though the construction of temporary houses by the state government is also going on in full swing as claimed by state government authorities. The protesting dissatisfied residents demand : Declare JOSHIMATH crisis a disaster, make public the report of the joint study done by the eight prominent institutions of JOSHIMATH, imposition of monetary penalty on NTPC and scrapping its hydroelectric project forthwith as according to the JOSHIMATH BACHAO SANGHARSH SAMITTEE the leakages done in the aquifers inside the tunnel due to the Tunnel Boring machines is one of the the main reasons for subsidence of the holy town. It also demanded the stoppage to the ongoing works of Marwadi Badrinath highway including provision of adequate compensation to the affected families , declaration of comprehensive rehabilitation policy for JOSHIMATH and end to all environment damaging projects etc.
According to the protestors the efforts done by the government till date are ” Not adequate ” in terms of providing relief and rehabilitation to the JOSHIMATH sufferers as lot more needs to be done on a war footing.
It may be recalled that eminent environmentalist and former chairman of SC monitored all weather roads high power comittee Dr. Ravi Chopra who resigned as its chairman have been opposing tooth and nail the construction of hydropower projects and all weather roads terming them as assault on the himalayas n its ecology. Speaking to Down to Earth this ecological scientist said that JOSHIMATH is a huge mess which is not over and is still evolving adding that that continuous assault on the himalayas is underway and the government in order to achieve results of exploitation of rapid commercial energy is busy hurting the himalayas in the name of rapid economic growth. Extremely against the Tapovan Vishnu had Pariyojna and Marwadi Badrinath highway Dr. Ravi Chopra had said that as the chairman of the environmental committee in 2013-14 I had catagorically warned and strongly recommended that no dams be constructed in the para glacial zones above the MCT. He had strongly said not to built any dams on the upstream of Joshimath like Dhauli Ganga and Rishiganga including Tapovan Vishnu gad Projects but they didn’t have any herd to his cautioning notes leading to disasters like JOSHIMATH and earlier flash floods of Rishi Dhauli Ganga that claimed 200 lives.
