DEHRADUN: Fresh cracks have appeared in Joshimath and a walkway built by the municipality in the area has started submerging, raising fresh concern among the people of the city.
New cracks have started appearing again in the land submergence-affected areas of Joshimath and a new crack has also surfaced on the Joshimath-Auli road, locals in the area said, adding that the walkway built by the municipality in Manohar Bagh ward has also started submerging.
The cracks first surfaced in January in Joshimath’s Manohar Bagh ward. Cracks spread to the Singhdhar ward.
Ved Prakash Pant, a resident of Joshimath’s Main Bazar, said: “The situation has become even more fragile during the rainy season and the administration and the government should take steps on a war footing towards Joshimath.”
Meanwhile, the relentless rains in Uttarakhand for the last 15 days have caused heavy damage to national highways.
Badrinath National Highway near Kalimati was damaged in landslides near Gauchar and Kameda.
According to the sources at the district disaster management authority, it will take another four days for the Badrinath Yatra to resume. Besides, 362 roads, including four national highways, are closed across the state.
Due to intermittent rains in the Chamoli district, the Joshimath-Malari highway connecting the China border area is in bad condition in many places.
According to information received from administrative sources in Chamoli, “Vehicular movement is being hampered due to the debris coming into the Tamak drain near Jumma village every day. On Tuesday too, vehicular movement on the highway remained suspended for nearly six hours, bringing the movement of the army, ITBP as well as local vehicles to a standstill”.
“A 32-year-old man named Rohit Goyal was swept away in a drain in the Raipur area of Dehradun on Tuesday evening due to a strong current of rainwater. The local police and SDRF are searching for the youth,” SDRF Commandant Manikant Mishra said.
As per the Meteorological Department, on July 26, there may be heavy rains with lightning in many areas of Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar, Champawat and Nainital districts.
The MeT has warned to plan the journey only after getting accurate information about the weather.