NTPC is solely responsible for the entire JOSHIMATH catastrophe say eminent environmentalist Dr. Chopra after reading the Reasearch documents on the basis of statistics of NTPC n L& T

The evacuation from the affected wards of JOSHIMATH is on full swing and the government of Uttarakhand has announced an interim financial relief of Rs 1.5 lakhs to each and every family of the hilly township which is the gateway to the historic temple Badrinath, Auli, Hemkunt Sahib Gurudwara and Valley of flowers.

There is minus degree temperature in JOSHIMATH and majority of the affected families have been housed in hotels which too have developed cracks with people saying that it’s better to die in our own houses than dying in the hotels full of cracks.

Meanwhile, eminent environmentalist Dr. Ravi Chopra too has expressed his serious concern over ecological catastrophe of JOSHIMATH openly accusing the National Thermal Power Corporation for the present massive subsidence and subsequent vracks in houses n buildings at JOSHIMATH.

According to the research paper written on the basis of the statistics of NTPC and L & T eminent environmentalist Dr. Ravi Chopra has catagorically accused the NTPC for having direct relationship with the serious consequences being witnessed in JOSHIMATH on massive scale.

He said that in the year 2009 when the TBM got stuck in the tunnel of Tapovan Vishugad Project there had been massive leakage of water resulting in creation of new cracks and old cracks becoming more wider as the water entered in them ( cracks) massively.

The leakage from the inner side of the tunnel to outside resulted in widening of the existing cracks n creating new ones as well.

The existing rocks are very sensitive, fragile and weak and the mountains in a growing stage said Dr. Chopra.

With reference to the report of the research papers Dr. Chopra said that the NTPC was warned of the consequences and given suggestions to exercise future precautions n concrete remedial taken simultaneously but it didn’t fulfilled them.

Dr. Chopra revealed that after going through the research papers minutely he came to the conclusion that it was because of the inadequacies adopted during the construction of the 12 kilometre long tunnel and the DBM getting stuck inside, that it adversely impacted the ground water system of Joshimath.

He added that apart from the huge leakage from the NTPC tunnel after stucking of DBM , on 7 th February, massive quantity of water entered the tunnel after the Rishi n Dhauli Ganga flash floods in 2021 resulting in more than the earlier leakages from the tunnel that made the existing cracks in rocks more wide and creating more new cracks as well.

Dr. Chopra said therefore after the reasearch papers’ in depth study he had come to the final conclusion that there are concrete n solid evidence that the major reason for the JOSHIMATH catastrophe is the result of the inadequate Tunnel construction process in which massive explosions were done to expeditiously finish the tunnel work under the charge of the contractors not engineers, who remain present at the time of explosions at the site.

The contractors are always in hurry to complete their works etc and therefore use explosions not caring for environment safeguards n protection said Dr. Chopra.

On the other hand the leader of the JOSHIMATH Sangharsh Samittee Atul Sati, the local resident of JOSHIMATH as well who had been the main inspiring force to awaken people to fight for their rights sending memorandums from CM to SDM to DM to geologists n other relevant authorities for the last 14 months cautioning them of the prevailing danger including getting the survey done is a worried man today as authorities are not taking them seriously.

डॉ रवि चोपड़ा ने कहा कि इस सब को पढ़ कर वे इस नतीजे पर पहुंचे हैं कि टनलिंग (सुरंग बनाने की प्रक्रिया) की वजह से यहां के भू जल के तंत्र पर प्रभाव पड़ा. उन्होंने कहा कि टनल में पानी का जितना रिसाव हुआ, उससे कई गुना अधिक पानी 07 फरवरी 2021 को सुरंग में घुसा. उससे चट्टानों में नई दरारें बनी और पुरानी दरारें चौड़ी हो गयी, जिसका प्रभाव अत्याधिक व्यापक होगा. इस बात को कहने के पर्याप्त आधार हैं कि हम आज जो झेल रहे हैं, वह एन टी पी सी की सुरंग निर्माण प्रक्रिया का परिणाम है. उन्होंने कहा कि नियंत्रित विस्फोट करने का एन टी पी सी का दावा खोखला है क्योंकि साइट पर विस्फोट करते समय कोई वैज्ञानिक नहीं बल्कि ठेकेदार रहता है, जो अपना काम खत्म करने की जल्दी में होता है.
जोशीमठ बचाओ संघर्ष समिति के संयोजक अतुल सती ने सिलसिलेवार तरीके से बताया कि पिछले 14 महीने से संघर्ष समिति निरंतर सरकार को जोशीमठ पर मंडराते खतरे के प्रति आगाह कर रही थी. इसके लिए प्रशासन के जरिये सरकार को ज्ञापन भिजवाए, स्वयं पहल करके भू वैज्ञानिकों से सर्वे करवाया, सरकार की विशेषज्ञ कमेटी के सर्वे में भी सहयोग किया. आपदा प्रबंधन सचिव से लेकर मुख्यमंत्री तक से बात की, लेकिन किसी ने स्थितियों के बिगड़ने तक मामले को गंभीरता से नहीं लिया.