Sinking cities have always been horrifying scenes in movies during our childhood. Even imagining the scene would be a nightmare for us, but as we are growing every day it seems that those scenes are getting closer to reality. Yes, today we are going to discuss one of the sinking cities, i.e Joshimath. Every other day there are some new constructions in the lap of nature, trying to bring down the coziness of enjoying the serenity of it. But can we justify our actions? There is always a big NO and here is why,
Joshimath, a place that every nature lover plans to visit once in a lifetime is in danger. Yes, it is sinking with every passing of time and one of the main reasons behind it is the interference of humans. Amid the beauty of nature, there lies a city that is surrounded by the Himalayas and crowned by its sublime beauty disappearing with every passing day. In Joshimath, Uttarakhand, numerous roads and hundreds of homes have developed large fissures, prompting the local government to label the area a landslide and subsidence-hit area. While there are protests by individuals who do not want to relocate until it is established where they will be rehabilitated, families are being evacuated to temporary relief centers.
Subsidence (sinking of the earth due to underground material movement) has been reported in Joshimath for a variety of reasons, including unauthorized construction, excessive population, impeding the natural flow of water, and hydropower activities. The town’s surrounding perennial streams and heavily worn rocks with poor cohesive qualities render the region susceptible to landslides and subsidence. But despite the experts’ warnings, unanticipated development projects like NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydro project, Char Dham road project, and Helang bypass by the BRO have continued. Only now, when sinking in Joshimath has reached a dangerous level, have all of these projects been put on hold.
How much is nature disturbed? An assumption
Although Joshimath has had building cracks before, this time they are deeper and wider, causing crater-like openings in certain spots, which has caused a great deal of anxiety and terror among the locals. The settlement, which was established on landslide-deposited loose soil, soft loose rocks, and moraine (material left behind by retreating glaciers), lacks an organized drainage system. Tectonic shifts contribute to the pressure there because the area is seismically active. Fears that the town would implode under its own weight have been raised as a result of all this.
Cause of the reason
The Dhaliganga and Alaknanda rivers, as well as permanent streams, border the south and north and west and east, respectively, of Joshimath, which is located on the middle slopes of a hill. It is affected by subsidence and landslides at the same time. The region was also affected recently by the floods of June 2013 and the glacial lake burst in February 2021, which claimed 204 lives of hydropower project personnel. Extreme rainfall events have altered the flow and expanded the channels of mountain streams, increasing the instability of the slope. Currently, the town’s already vulnerable ecosystem is being put in even greater danger by road and hydropower projects. The Border Road Organization is utilizing large machinery to construct the Heland bypass near Helang, to the south of Joshimath. The bypass’s goal is to cut the travel time to the Badrinath shrine by 30 kilometers, however even this is having a negative effect on the area.
Hydropower projects, including the Vishnugad HE Project, have been approved near Joshimath and Tapovan despite the region’s geological vulnerabilities. The project’s head race tunnel was dug out using tunnel boring equipment. In addition, the town is being overburdened by the indiscriminate development of hotels, rest stops, and multi-story structures, which have blocked the natural flow of water and increased subsurface water pressure. The town also doesn’t have a reliable drainage system. These elements have all worked together to make an already dire situation worse.
Every time we try to get into the internal matters of nature there has always been a reciprocating action from nature that has generally resulted in destruction. Joshimath is not only the single place where this phenomenon is taking place, Mexico, on the other hand, is another place that is facing similar issues regarding sinking. Both these places prevail in different types of ecosystems and at different altitudes but even though both these places are facing issues that can never be reversed because of the damage already caused by us. This scenario of nature repelling our activities states that our modernization has been one of the main issues that are hurting mother nature. As we all know that we get what we do, we must be either prepared to face the consequences or understand the condition of nature and treat it as we would like to get treated.
