Uttarakhand HC to state: Why keep Joshimath report secret?

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Last Updated24/09/2023

The Uttarakhand High Court has expressed concerns about the state government’s decision to keep confidential the reports regarding the subsidence in Joshimath.
After cracks appeared in several houses in Joshimath in January, the government had enlisted eight technical institutions to prepare a study report.

Joshimath (also called Jyotirmath), located in the Chamoli district of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand
It is located in seismic zone five and bound by two regional thrusts: Vaikrita in the north and Munsiari in the south.
Scientists from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, observed that Joshimath and the surrounding areas have been sinking at a rate of 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) per year
Data was based on satellite data from July 2020 to March 2022.
Their findings correlate well with the base erosion of the Joshimath slope along the Alaknanda river.

Experts have pointed out that Joshimath city has been built on an ancient landslide material
- It means it rests on a deposit of sand and stone, not rock, which doesn’t have high load-bearing capacity.
This makes the area extremely vulnerable to ever-burgeoning infrastructure and population.
Unplanned and unauthorised construction has led to the blocking of the natural flow of water, which eventually results in frequent landslides.
Tapovan Vishnugad Hydro Power Project -
- The construction of the Project is also seen as one of the reasons for the incident.
- It was found that the tunnel had water seepage from a punctured aquifer, leading to the drying of water sources in Joshimath.
It may also be the result of the reactivation of a geographic fault
- defined as a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock
- where the Indian Plate has pushed under the Eurasian Plate along the Himalayas.