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10/01/23 09:07 AM IST

Joshimath sinking

In News
  • The Uttarakhand government recently halted construction works in and around Joshimath, including projects by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
Joshimath
  • Joshimath is the starting point for many Himalayan Mountain climbing expeditions, pilgrimage sites such as Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib
  • It is the location of one of Adi Shankara’s four cardinal monasteries.
  • Also known as Jyotirmath, it is a town (of over 20,000 population) in the Garhwal Himalayas in Chamoli District in Uttarakhand, located on the NH-7 (Rishikesh-Badrinath) at an altitude of 1890
  • It is situated in the middle slopes of a hill bounded by the Karmanasa and Dhaknala streams on the west and the east and the Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers on the south and the north.
Concerns
  • The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is building the Helang bypass that will reduce the distance to Badrinath shrine by about 30 km, using heavy machinery.
  • Hydroelectric (HE) schemes have been sanctioned around Joshimath and Tapovan, including the Vishnugad HE Project and a tunnel boring machine (TBM) was employed for excavating the tunnel for the project.
  • In 2009, it punctured a water-bearing strata and experts had warned that this sudden and large-scale dewatering of the strata had the potential of initiating ground subsidence in the region.
  • According to the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA), Joshimath falls in Zone V of the Seismic Zonation Map and has witnessed several earthquakes of magnitude of less than 5 on the Richter scale.
  • Joshimath being on a fault line makes it highly vulnerable to sinking because of tectonic activity.
Source- Indian Express

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