The Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti on Monday demanded scrapping of NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project and asked the Centre to take over the relief and rehabilitation works in the land subsidence hit-town, accusing the Uttarakhand government of carrying them out at a snail’s pace. Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (JBSS) convenor Atul Sati, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accused the state government of ignoring its warnings about the imminent disaster for 14 months and dealing with it now at a slow pace.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking the court’s intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand’s subsidence-hit Joshimath a national disaster.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala asked petitioner Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati to approach the Uttarakhand high court with his petition.
Joshimath, the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and international skiing destination Auli, is facing a major challenge due to land subsidence.
The petitioner has contended the subsidence has occurred due to large-scale industrialisation and sought immediate financial assistance and compensation to the affected people.