DEHRADUN: In 2022, close to five crore tourists, 3.8 crore Kanwar yatris and 45 lakh Char Dham pilgrims, visited Uttarakhand. While 2022 emerged as the most successful year for tourism in the context of footfall, it has simultaneously raised several questions about the infrastructure availability, carrying capacity of hill towns, scientific study, assessment and several other key factors related to the well-being of the mountains and residents.
Joshimath saw as many as 4.9 lakh visitors in 2019, 4.3 lakh visitors in 2018 and 2.4 lakh in 2017. On similar lines, Char Dham towns had 24 lakh devotees in 2017 and the number nearly doubled to 45 lakh in 2022.
People in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath protest as houses develop cracks
The burden on two main hill stations, Mussoorie and Nainital, too, is on the rise. Barring the two seasons impacted by the Covid pandemic (2020 and 2021), there has been a significant increase in the number of tourists at these tourist spots.
In 2017, Mussoorie had 27 lakh visitors, 30 lakh each in 2018 and 2019, 10 lakh in 2020 and 12 lakh in 2021.
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Joshimath – the sinking hill town of Uttarakhand
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<p>Residents of Joshimath Town in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand have been evacuating their homes and seeking safe refuge due to occurrences of land subsidence in the region.</p>
<p>Huge cracks have appeared in the houses of the area due to this land subsidence which is known as the vertical sinking of land in an area.</p>
<p>The winter season and the danger of house collapse due to landslides have now become a major issue in Joshimath Town.</p>
<p>Nine wards of Joshimath town have been massively affected by landslides.</p>
<p>The cracks in the walls and floors of the houses in the city area are getting deeper with each passing day</p>
<p>More than 3,000 people from 576 houses in the city area have been affected due to this subsidence</p>
<p>All the houses are being surveyed by the municipality. Many people have also left their homes</p>
<p>The people of Joshimath are worried about the future of the city</p>
<p>A group of people from Joshimath is planning to visit Dehradun and meet with Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to request assistance for those affected by subsidence.</p>
<p>Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has sought a detailed report from the district magistrate of Chamoli</p>
<p>Terming it an “extremely serious matter”, the CM has also instructed officials to provide the required relief to local residents</p>
<p>Traders “who were facing financial losses,” to also be provided relief</p>
<p>All of us are now living on a ticking ‘atom bomb’ that can explode any moment, says a resident</p>
<p>In the past 10 days, over 70 houses have developed cracks, says another resident</p>
<p>Cracks are also visible on the national highway, government school as well as hospital</p>
<p>Residents alleged that one of the major reasons behind the cracks was a 12km long tunnel of NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad 520 MW hydropower project</p>
<p>NTPC officials had recently taken local mediapersons to show them the tunnel and claimed that it was all dry now, and the “sinking” is not due to their project</p>
<p>Joshimath is the last border town of strategic, religious, and tourist importance which falls into seismic zone V</p>
<p>A team of experts has also conducted a survey of the town and found that it is gradually sinking with huge cracks appearing in a large number of houses.</p>
Similarly, 9.1 lakh tourists visited Nainital in 2017, 9.3 lakh each in 2018 and 2019, 2.1 lakh in 2020 and 3.3 lakh in 2020.
Joshimath land subsidence: CM Dhami conducts ground inspection
“We need to learn from the experience of Joshimath. A scientific study of hill towns needs to be conducted. We need to know about their carrying capacity, from the visitors and locals’ point of view. In 1976, there were just a few thousand people in Joshimath but due to migration, the number has now gone up to 25,000. There is a limit for each town and we need to keep it in mind,” Anil Joshi, founder of Doon-based Himalayan Environment Studies & Conservation Organisation (HESCO), told TOI.
Padma Bhushan recipient Joshi said, “Because of the repeated negligence by authorities concerned, the Joshimath issue does not come as a shock to me. The issue was flagged in 1976, but no one took note of it. A river is flowing beneath, but no one is bothered and urbanisation is gaining pace. We will have to become more serious towards the environment and also the future of our children.” He advocated that any construction beyond 1,000 metres “must be taken seriously and approved only after a thorough study”.
Uttarakhand CM to lead Joshimath rescue and rehabilitation operations
Anoop Nautiyal, the founder of Social Development for Communities, which has been conducting surveys in the region, said: “If we don’t become alert now, it would not be shocking to say that Joshimath is just the start. Many other Joshimaths-like incidents are waiting to happen in Uttarakhand and it is just a matter of days, weeks, months or years before any similar incident. We have to manage and mitigate the situation.”
