'File Detailed Report on Joshimath Sinking and Actions Taken': NGT orders Uttarakhand Govt

New Delhi: India’s apex green court, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), has ordered the Uttarakhand government to file a “detailed” affidavit on the actions taken on ground in Joshimath in Chamoli district, which witnessed land subsidence – cracks on the ground and even homes as land sank due to uncontrolled construction and other reasons – that also resulted in displacement of people from their homes in January 2023.

The NGT expressed displeasure at the fact that the report filed by Uttarakhans’s Additional Secretary of Forest and Environment in June this year had several “deficiencies”, including the fact that it did not list the agencies that are responsible for carrying out routine geological investigations for regular monitoring. The NGT has listed the next hearing of the case for October 1 this year.

Meanwhile, landslides continue in the area. On July 16, a worker died after debris from a hillock fell on him near Joshimath, and another worker was injured.

A ‘last opportunity’

Taking note of a news report published in The Tribune on January 16 last year titled “Joshimath disaster a warning for Mussoorie”, the National Green Tribunal – India’s apex green court – had registered a case suo motu [on its own accord] that month to look into the issue of land subsidence or sinking in Joshimath in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand.

On January 8, 2023, authorities had listed the area as landslide-prone and land subsidence-hit. As of January 9, 678 buildings – including houses – had developed cracks, and authorities evacuated more than 80 families from their homes, as The Wire reported.

Experts told The Wire about how uncontrolled construction had brought Joshimath to this condition, and how, despite warnings more than four decades ago that heavy construction should be banned in the area, governments pushed through a hydel project and an ambitious yet controversial highway project in the region.

Though the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board had filed an action taken report (ATR) in November that year, the NGT expressed dissatisfaction at the report. It ordered the UKPCB to file a fresh report after three weeks.

In April this year, the NGT noted that the Uttarakhand state government had not filed a report, detailed plan, remedial measures or placed on record a time-bound proposal – even though a year had passed since the incident of land subsidence. It gave the state government a “last opportunity” to do so. In June this year, the Additional Secretary of Forest and Environment, Uttarakhand, filed the report (dated June 19).

“Deficiencies” in report: NGT

However, there were several “deficiencies” in the report, said Justices Prakash Shrivastava and Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A. Senthil Vel, of the National Green Tribunal’s Principal Bench, on July 9. From the report, the state’s counsel could not “point out any action taken at the ground level till now”, it said.

While the counsel referred to an annexure in the report, which is an action plan to execute preventive and remedial measures, he could not “point out any concrete effective action at the ground level” even in the plan, the NGT noted. 

The report “merely refers to the deliberations, meetings, review meetings, general statements, etc. but unless the effective action at the ground level is taken, the problem will not be remediated”, the NGT said. There are also no details of budgetary allocation or a comprehensive afforestation plan, nor a list of steps taken to regulate carrying capacity in the area. 

The NGT listed out five major deficiencies in the report. These include the fact that the report did not list which agencies are responsible “for carrying out routine geological and geotechnical investigations at the State and Central level for regular monitoring/vigilance”. Pending projects in these areas should be reviewed in the context of this vulnerability, the NGT noted.

Another is that the status of action taken after demolition notices were served to 19 unsafe buildings has not been disclosed; vulnerable sites having cracks, and both landslide-prone and chronic landslide-prone areas have not been marked.

The number of sites that have to be stabilised by land filling and maintaining slope stability has also not been disclosed, the NGT noted. It also added that the preparation and execution of a drainage plan in a time- bound manner has not been disclosed. 

The NGT in its July 9 judgment therefore ordered the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand to file an affidavit with all these details, including all the actions that have been taken on ground, in six weeks. The NGT will hear the case next on October 1.

Falling debris kills a worker, injures another at Joshimath

Meanwhile, landslides are still the norm in Joshimath: it’s raining debris in the area. 

In the wee hours of July 16, debris fell from a hillock near the town, trapping two Nepali workers under it, reported PTI. While one of them, identified as Dinesh Bahadur (22) from Nepal's Kalikot, was taken to Joshimath’s Community Health Centre for treatment, Gum Bahadur (35), hailing from Surkhet village in Nepal who was also trapped under the debris, died.

A team of local police and SDRF personnel were pressed into action on a search and rescue operation.

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