Joshimath crisis: As the Himalayan state reeling under fears of being ruined by the "man-made disaster", the ropeway service connecting Chamoli's Joshimath to Auli in Uttarakhand has now halted till further notice.
Speaking to the news agency ANI, a senior official who looks after the operation of the Ropeway connectivity said that the decision was taken in view of the cracks that developed in thousands of houses in the past two weeks. Also, he added huge cracks appeared near the ropeway platform late at night. According to the official, this was a precautionary measure and added the order will be followed until the next decree.
"The impact of the landslide [land subsidence] in Joshimath is expanding. The 4.15-km ropeway connecting Joshimath to Auli has also come under threat as huge cracks appeared near the ropeway platform late night Friday," Dinesh Bhatt, manager, of Ropeway Operation, told the news agency.
"In the wake of cracks appearing near tower number 1 of the ropeway, the service was suspended temporarily by the administration as a precautionary measure. There are concerns as to whether the ropeway service can resume anytime soon," he added.
Several houses collapsed on January 2
Moreover, the news agency, on Saturday, reported that several houses collapsed at Singhdhar in the Joshimath town of Uttarakhand in the midnight hours of January 2 and 3. Luckily, no casualties were reported in the incident.
Speaking to ANI, Harish, a local, said, "It happened on January 2. It was around 2.30 am when we were sleeping. We heard a noise as the cracks on the walls opened up and big chunks of concrete started falling off." "We were scared and spent the night under an open sky. We were shifted to a government school nearby the day after," he said.
Joshimath crisis
It is worth mentioning the major development came nearly two weeks after houses and roads in Uttarakhand's Joshimath developed cracks. Authorities said that Hotels Malari Inn and Mount View which have developed big cracks will be demolished first adding all the residents in the affected zones have been evacuated.
A bulletin from the Disaster Management Authority Chamoli said that cracks have appeared in more than 700 houses so far while over 100 families have been shifted to safe locations in the town. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear on January 16 a plea seeking the court’s intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand's Joshimath as a national disaster.
(With inputs from agency)
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