Joshimath (Uttarakhand):

A tilted hotel building leaning onto the one next to it is perhaps emblematic of how unabated development has led to cracks, literally, across the hill town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand. Over 500 houses are staring at a collapse in this holy town — entry point for major Hindu and Sikh pilgrimages — which is also one of the major military bases near India’s border with China.

Cracks run along and across the roads and are widening constantly, an NDTV team observed.

More than 3,000 people are affected, the municipality chief has said. That’s over 10 per cent of the population in a town that’s 6,000 feet high.

A tilted hotel building and (below) the cracks around it on a main road in Joshimath.

Around 40 families have already moved out as soil subsidence gets worse by the day in a region that’s among the most susceptible to earthquakes.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is to visit on Saturday after protests by locals who demand a solution or adequate rehabilitation. Experts have been deployed and the state’s BJP government says it’ll do whatever needs to be done after getting their reports.

Climate change and constant infrastructure development are to blame, say locals. 

“Tunnels being dug for hydel power plants have led to this,” alleged a local hotelier, “And they continue to blast through rocks to widen roads, build bypasses, even very close to our town.”

He added, “We are living in constant fear. People light fires and stay outside in the cold nights as they fear their houses or hotels might collapse anytime.”

On the government working on solutions, he said, “Steps should have bene taken many years ago as this is not a new phenomenon. Successive governments have ignored that big projects lead to destruction.”

Meanwhile, a team of experts, including officials from the administration and the State Disaster Management Department, conducted a door-to-door survey.

Officially, 561 establishments have reported cracks, according to the Chamoli district administration. Operations of Hotel View and Malari Inn, the one leaning on a building next to it, have been restricted, the statement added.

So far, 38 families have been sent to safer places by the government.

Others continue to live in the cracked houses or have moved in with relatives or friends.

The district administration has already asked Hindustan Construction Company Limited (HCC) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to be prepared to shelter affected families.

The town, over 6,000 feet high, is considered a gateway for several climbing expeditions in the Himalayas. These include the trek to the pilgrimage centres of Badrinath and Hemkunt Sahib, and to the Valley of Flowers.

Home to the Jyotirmath monastery, it is among the cardinal institutions of Hinduism.