[Joshimath Crisis] ‘Resettled Many People, Deployed Disaster Response Forces’: Uttarakhand Govt Informs Delhi High Court

The Uttarakhand Government on Thursday informed Delhi High Court that National and State Disaster Response Forces have been deployed in the State to deal with Joshimath crisis and that many people have been resettled and relocated.

Deputy Advocate General for the State of Uttarakhand JK Sethi informed a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad that two committees have been formed to look into the issue and that a rehabilitation package is also being prepared.

The court was also informed that both the State as well as the Central Government are seized of the matter and efforts are underway.

“We have deployed NDRF, we are working on the issue. We have resettled and relocated many people, we are working on that. We are seized of the matter. Ground work is being done,” Sethi informed court.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation seeking constitution of a high powered joint committee under the chairmanship of a retired High Court judge and representatives of all relevant ministries seeking inspection of Joshimath and rehabilitation of the residents.

Moved by a Delhi based lawyer Rohit Dandriyal who is also a permanent resident of Uttarakhand’s Pauri district, the plea states that nearly 500 families living in Joshimath are either risking their lives by still living in their houses or are looking for accommodation at other places in cold weather conditions.

As Sethi informed court that the Supreme Court will be hearing a similar PIL on January 16, Dandriyal sought for a short adjournment and said that he will withdraw the plea on the next date of hearing if some order is passed by the Apex Court.

It is the petitioner’s case that he wrote a representation on January 6 to the Ministries of Road Transport and Highways, Home Affairs and Power, New & Renewable Energy, requesting them to constitute the said committee, in view of the construction of Vishnuprayag hydro electric plant project and national highway.

The plea states that the said construction activity in Joshimath in the past years violated the fundament rights of the residents.

“In one of the strangest phenomenon to strike the holy town nestled in the serene hills of Chamoli at a height of 6,000 ft, houses started developing cracks and damages since 2021, leaving residents anxious and worried. Since the first reports of the cracks in 2021 after landslides in Chamoli, over 570 houses have sustained damages or cracks as residents experienced seismic tremors repeatedly in the subsequent years,” the plea adds.

Title: Rohit Dandriyal v. Union of India and Ors