At 8 am on a foggy July morning, Brajesh Kumar Singh was peeling boiled potatoes and prepping to make aloo parathas at his restaurant, New Star, which is in the main bazaar area of the hill town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand. The town was still waking up. The kawad yatris going to or returning from the holy shrine of Gangotri were zooming past on their bikes, honking incessantly, disrupting the Himalayan peace. The regular tourists, however, were missing.
Joshimath—perched on a hill at an altitude of 6,150 feet—is a gateway of sorts. Earlier, during the summer months, pilgrims going for the Char Dham Yatra or to Hemkund Sahib, families visiting tourist destinations like Auli, the Valley of Flowers and the Nanda Devi National Park, and backpackers embarking on different treks in the Himalayan region would pass through or halt at Joshimath. But, for the past two years, tourists have been giving the hill town a miss.
“It was never like this before. Earlier, in July-August, even at 8 am, the roads used to be packed with tourists. After last year’s ‘Joshimath is sinking’ news reports, tourists are not stopping here. It’s a big loss for locals who depend on the incoming tourists. That’s our main source of income. The town received a lot of negative publicity,” says Singh.
Joshimath was the epicentre of the tragedy that struck the region last year. More than 700 homes, hotels, roads and commercial establishments developed cracks due to gradual but consistent land subsidence that had been taking place over the past couple of decades. However, in January 2023, the signs of devastation became highly visible. Satellite images released by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) showed that the town sank 5.4 cm in just 12 days—from December 27, 2022 to January 8, 2023.
Joshimath had been ‘sinking’ since the 1970s. In 1976, a government committee cited deforestation, unplanned construction of buildings, road construction using explosives, inadequate drainage of wastewater, and erosion at the base of Joshimath caused by the Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers as the main causes of land subsidence.
In 2006, the construction of the head race tunnel for the Tapovan-Vishnugad plant—a 520 MW hydroelectric project by NTPC on the Dhauliganga river—started. After the tunnel received environmental clearance in 2007, the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (JBSS), a group of local activists who first raised the land subsidence issue in the hill town, had written to the president citing instances of slope destabilisation. But excavations for the 12.25-km tunnel through the Joshimath mountain continued. About 8.5 km of the tunnel was excavated with a tunnel boring machine and the remaining 4 km by drilling and blasting. The boring machine got trapped inside the tunnel thrice—in December 2009, February 2012, and October 2012.
While NTPC argues that the tunnel lies at a horizontal distance of around one km away from the town, the JBSS asserts that a bypass tunnel was excavated with explosives right below the town to rescue the boring machine that had been trapped inside the main tunnel.
After buildings in Joshimath developed cracks last year, national and international media landed there to cover the story of the sinking Himalayan town. Over the next couple of weeks, as authorities were demolishing damaged buildings, Joshimath remained a relevant story. But after the last reporter had gone, the locals were left to fight for compensation and rehabilitation by themselves.
Tourists giving Joshimath a miss and creating a dent in the incomes of those who own hotels, guesthouses, homestays and dharamshalas was another factor that was largely unaddressed. Joshimath saw as many as 4.9 lakh visitors in 2019 and over 1.65 lakh in 2021. People were hoping for an uptick in business after the pandemic, but 2023 happened.
The hill town was developed to cater to tourists and pilgrims, but Singh says this development was not sustainable. “Many people have built multistorey homes and hotels by flouting norms. These buildings bore the brunt last year. Some had to be demolished,” he adds.
In January 2023, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited Joshimath and announced that the Uttarakhand government would pay an interim relief of ₹45 crore, amounting to ₹1.5 lakh for each of the 3,000 families living in Joshimath.
In February 2023, the Uttarakhand state cabinet approved a policy regarding compensation to the families/individuals of Joshimath area affected by land subsidence. Until then, 868 structures had developed cracks—out of which 181 were in the ‘danger zone’.
According to the policy, the owners of the affected houses had to choose one of three options. The first was to take the entire compensation in the form of money, as per the rates decided for houses and land. Under the second option, the owners could take monetary compensation for the house and the government would provide them land to build a house. In the third option, owners could demand a new house against their land and existing house. The same three options were also provided for commercial structures such as shops, hotels and restaurants.
It's been more than one year, but many people have still not received compensation or alternative accommodation. Many are forced to stay in rented apartments or have left Joshimath. Some have spent from their own pockets and gotten their homes and shops repaired and are operating from there.
Among those who still haven’t received compensation is a hotel owner (name withheld on request). His hotel and the one next to it became the epicentre of the tragedy last year. Horrifying images were seen across the country of the two hotels leaning on to each other. The two were subsequently demolished. The hotel manager, who is in his 70s, gave multiple interviews to the media and became the face of the tragedy. “I think I am being punished for that. It’s been over a year, and they haven’t taken up my case. At this age, I am forced to live in a rented accommodation, that too on the third floor,” he says. He politely declined an interview to avoid upsetting the authorities.
On the contrary, Raghu Singh Kunwar, who lived close to the two hotels and whose home also had to be demolished, was more open as he has received compensation from the government. “I am just fortunate. There are so many who are still running around. So many people are living in rented homes. There is no one to guide the poor, who have no idea about the procedures to follow to get compensation or alternate accommodations. Now they are spending additional money from their pockets to pay the rent,” he says.
Jitinder Prasad and his brother Rajindra Prasad live in the Gandhinagar area of Joshimath. Last year, while Jitinder’s house had minor cracks, Rajinder’s house was declared a danger zone. The family moved to a school nearby that doubled as a relief camp, where they all lived for a couple of weeks. In the absence of any clarity from the government, the family eventually decided to move back into their home. They spent a fortune to fill up the cracks and started living there. But after the recent spell of rain, fresh cracks have developed.
A little ahead lives Shashi Lal Verma with his family. He owns a garage as well as a homestay. In January 2023, his garage cum workshop developed a huge crack and was immediately declared unfit for operation. His homestay, too, developed cracks and had to shut down.
Verma showed us the crack in the workshop which was covered with a wooden plank. “This workshop was my primary source of income. The homestay provided s secondary income. Both my sons were studying outside during the pandemic. These two businesses helped me sail through. I had also taken loans from the bank, and I was paying with the help my businesses. It was all good until January 2023,” said Verma. He had no source of earnings for the next few months.
“I tried a lot for the compensation that was due to me. It’s been one-and-a-half years, and I am still waiting. I had no option but to restart my garage. I paid from my own pocket and got the minor cracks in the homestay repaired. But since tourists are avoiding stopping in Joshimath, the rooms are vacant,” says Verma. His two sons are now back home. Both are in the hospitality sector but struggled to find a job in the post- pandemic situation. After the sinking reports of last year, they chose to come back to be with their parents because of the uncertainty.
“The youth of Joshimath had been moving out because of lack of opportunities. Now, after last year’s situation, they don’t have any incentive to stay back. This will alter the social fabric of the town in the years to come,” says Verma. He adds that if they situation remains like this, Joshimath will no longer be a tourist town and all those who were dependent on tourists will have to look for alternative earning options.
