Joshimath, the gateway to popular pilgrimage sites such as Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and international skiing destination Auli, is facing a major challenge due to land subsidence. Joshimath is 1,875 meters above sea level, situated in the northwestern district of Chamoli in Uttarakhand.
Many houses have developed cracks, compelling people to shift to relief centres set up by the government.
The main reason behind the Joshimath sinking is related to the geography of the town. In October 2021, cracks first appeared in a few houses in Uttarakhand's Joshimath town.
In just a year, more than 760 houses in all of the nine wards in the town have developed major or minor cracks in the floors, ceilings, and walls.
The debris on which the city was established has a low bearing capacity and experts have long warned that it cannot support a high rate of construction.
All the construction, hydroelectric projects, and the widening of the National Highway have made the slopes highly unstable in the last couple of decades.
Apart from the heavy population, it has many hotels, resorts, and a bustling market that attracts large numbers of tourists, putting more pressure on the land.
According to the officials, the demolition is being carried out under the technical supervision of the Roorkee-based Central Building Research Institute.
In a first for India, the film RRR earned its first Golden Globes for the year in the Best Original Song category for Naatu Naatu. The song was composed by veteran music director MM Keeravaani and penned by Kala Bhairavi and Rahul Sipligunj. MM Keeravaani received the award and thanked the fans globally for all the love. I am very much overwhelmed by this great moment happening.
Local residents in Uttarakhand's 'sinking' town of Joshimath are protesting against the demolition of sinking houses and hotels by the administration without announcing compensation. The protests erupted outside hotel Malari Inn, which had been marked unsafe. Hotel Malari Inn and other unsafe structures are set to be demolished on Wednesday. The protesters are raising slogans against the state government for the abrupt demolition move. Meanwhile, in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP called Rahul Gandhi's visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar "hypocritical", saying the Gandhi family has not apologised for the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. Rahul Gandhi paid a visit to the Golden Temple on Wednesday as part of the Congress party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and BJP leader Uma Bharti spoke on the sinking of Joshimath and said policy makers are eating the Himalayas alive. She added that when she was the water minister, she had filed an affidavit against power projects saying they could prove to be harmful to the Himalayas. Joshimath is headed for a disaster as more houses have developed cracks, forcing residents to rush out from the comfort of their homes in this bone-chilling winter and move to temporary shelters set up by the government authorities.
Local residents in Uttarakhand's 'sinking' town of Joshimath are protesting against the demolition of sinking houses and hotels by the administration without announcing compensation. The protests erupted outside hotel Malari Inn, which had been marked unsafe. Hotel Malari Inn and other unsafe structures are set to be demolished on Wednesday. The protesters are raising slogans against the state government for the abrupt demolition move. Meanwhile, in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP called Rahul Gandhi's visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar "hypocritical", saying the Gandhi family has not apologised for the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. Rahul Gandhi paid a visit to the Golden Temple on Wednesday as part of the Congress party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The family of the victims who died on Tuesday after an under-construction pillar collapsed on them demanded action against the authorities after eye witnesses said the pillar seemed to have been shaking for days. A mother and her two-and-a-half-year-old child died in the accident and left the mother and another child injured. The family was on a bike with the father driving when the accident happened. In Uttarakhand's ‘sinking’ town of Joshimath, two hotels - Mount View and Mallari Inn - will be razed on Wednesday as part of a drive to demolish residences and buildings prone to collapse. The two buildings have developed deeper cracks that have nudged the structures to incline backwards. People located in proximity to the demolition site have evacuated.
A metro pillar that was under construction collapsed in Bengaluru, resulting in the deaths of a woman and her two-and-a-half-year-old son. The woman's husband, on whose bike they were travelling, was also injured in the incident. Eye witnesses said the pillar had been shaking for days before it finally collapsed, resulting in the death of the mother and her child. In Uttarakhand's "sinking" town Joshimath, two hotels - Mount View and Mallari Inn - will be razed on January 11 as part of a demolition drive to raze the residences and buildings prone to collapse. The two buildings have developed deeper cracks that have nudged the structures to incline backwards. People located in proximity to the demolition site have evacuated.
Evacuation in Uttarakhand's 'sinking' town Joshimath is underway as more houses developed cracks.
Are the horrors of the sinking town of Joshimath triggered by a hidden nuclear device in the Himalayas? Well, after the catastrophic floods back in February 2021 shook Raini village near Joshimath, villagers suspected a radioactive device to be the reason behind the fatal disaster. But how did a nuclear device even get on top of the Himalayas? For that, let’s travel back to the 1960s when the US collaborated with India. Indian and US climbers placed nuclear-powered monitoring devices across the Himalayas to spy on Chinese nuclear tests and missile firings.
The demolition drive in the ‘sinking’ town of Joshimath to raze the residences and buildings prone to collapse will begin shortly. The SDRF teams have started guiding the demolition team. Two hotels - Mount View and Mallari Inn - will be razed in the first phase of demolition as they have developed deeper cracks that have nudged the structures to incline backwards. People located in proximity to the demolition site have evacuated.
Here are the top developments of the hour. Hours after an international flight from Moscow to Goa made an emergency landing in Gujarat's Jamnagar, following a bomb threat, no bomb or suspicious object was found on the plane by the National Security Guard (NSG) as they inspected the flight through the night and authorities said they have checked belongings of all people onboard. A Demolition drive in the ‘sinking’ town of Joshimath to raze the residences and buildings prone to collapse will begin today. Two hotels - Mount View and Mallari Inn - will be razed in the first phase of demolition as they have developed deeper cracks that have nudged the structure to incline backwards. People located in proximity to the demolition site have evacuated.
Nearly 700 homes and 2 hotels have been declared unsafe as Joshimath sinks, while over 80 families have been evacuated.
As more houses, buildings and roads developed cracks in the sinking town of Joshimath, we raise these questions on this episode of News Today: Why is Joshimath sinking? Is this a man-made disaster? How can we save Joshimath? Impact survey for all big projects? How to avoid a bigger tragedy? Watch as experts share their views.
