Badrinath highway develops cracks amid Joshimath crisis

District authorities, however, said the cracks aren’t “a cause of concern” and will be repaired before the annual pilgrimage to Badrinath, which usually starts in May.

Cracks measuring one-to-two metres have developed on the Badrinath national highway in Joshimath, where expanding fissures in hundreds of residential and commercial buildings amid land subsidence have triggered panic and forced the relocation of hundreds of families.

The cracks that have developed on the Badrinath national highway. (HT)

District authorities, however, said the cracks aren’t “a cause of concern” and will be repaired before the annual pilgrimage to Badrinath, which usually starts in May.

Over 863 houses of the around 4,500 buildings in Joshimath — known as the gateway to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib pilgrimage sites — have developed cracks since October 2021. At least 181 of the buildings in the town have been placed in the unsafe zone, and 275 families have been moved out to safer areas, district authorities have informed.

A small crack that has appeared on the Badrinath highway is load induced but it isn’t a cause of concern, Chamoli district magistrate Himanshu Khurana said on Saturday, citing experts of the Central Building Research Institute.

Local residents, however, said the cracks have appeared at different spots.

“The Badrinath highway has cracks at different spots up to Marwari flyover over the Alaknanda river. The government should get them repaired immediately,” said taxi driver Rajendra Saklani.

Atul Sati, convener of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, too, said: “A large part of Badrinath highway is in the grip of the land subsidence.”

Taking note of the matter, state disaster management secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha said that the local administration has been keeping a close watch on the land subsidence on the highway and the road will be repaired before the pilgrimage season.

The agencies concerned have been instructed to repair the road, he said, adding that it would be done before the Char Dham Yatra.

The Char Dham Yatra is an annual tour of the four Hindu shrines located in Uttarakhand -- Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Hemkund Sahib, one of the most sacred sites for Sikhs, is also connected to the Char Dham Yatra.

The pilgrims visit all four places one-by-one in a clockwise direction starting from Yamunotri, then Gangotri, Kedarnath and lastly Badrinath. The four shrines remain shut for around six months every year, opening in summer and closing with the onset of winter.

This year, however, land subsidence in Joshimath and now cracks on the highway could pose a threat to the yatra, which is scheduled to begin in April or May.

The issue will be discussed in a high-level meeting to reduce the burden of pilgrims and vehicles on the gateway town in Chamoli district, an official privy to the matter said.

“Thousands of pilgrims stay in Joshimath as they halt in the town on the way to Badrinath, and a discussion in this regard to reduce the burden of pilgrims and vehicles on the sinking town would come up during a high-level meeting,” said Ajendra Ajay, chairman of the Badrinath-Kedarnath temple committee.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government on Saturday wrote to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to consult the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, on resuming the work on Helang-Marwari bypass under the Char Dham all-weather road project that was halted by the district administration in the first week of January after protests by local residents.

“I have written to the BRO to consult the GSI and IIT, Roorkee if the work on the Helang-Marwari bypass can restart. If the technical agencies give their go-ahead, the work will resume. Though it won’t complete before the upcoming Char Dham yatra season, it is important to keep the work going and ensure its completion on a fixed time. Rather, if the Badrinath-bound vehicles pass through Joshimath amid the land subsidence situation, it can make a negative impact by increasing the burden on the town. It would be unjustified to keep the important work suspended if not making any impact on the ongoing land subsidence situation in the holy town,” Sinha said.