The Supreme of India (SC) refused to designate the Joshimath land sinking crisis as a national disaster and declined a plea that sought the SC’s intervention.The court asked the petitioner seeking intervention to approach the Uttarakhand High Court.
A public interest litigation was filed by Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati who stressed that widespread industrialisation had caused land subsidence and sought immediate financial support and compensation for those impacted.
The petitioner said: “No development is needed at the cost of human life and their ecosystem and if any such thing is to happen, then it is the duty of the State and Union government to stop the same immediately.”
Late in October last year, houses gradually started collapsing due to the cracks, which had been developing for over a year. The Tapovan-Vishnugad Project and the Helang Bypass Project, have been blamed for the same.
The number of houses with cracks stands at 849 currently out of which 165 are in the ‘unsafe zone’ according to the state government. About 233 households have been relocated to temporary relief facilities.
On January 10, the court had said: “Everything important need not come to us. There are democratically elected institutions to look into it. We will list it on January 16.”