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Journalism of Courage
It was the third day of the new year when at around 4 am, 65-year-old Mohan Singh Shah was woken up by one of his tenants living in a small room on the ground floor. The tenant complained that a large crack had appeared on a wall, and his room had tilted to one side.
Another tenant, occupying an adjacent room, had the same complaint. The next day, both tenants left. One went to Dehradun with all his belongings, while the other left for Rishikesh.
Five days later, the cracks have spread to many more houses and roads, putting the entire town of Joshimath on edge, with residents worried over whether it will survive the land subsidence.
“It all started on the intervening night of January 2-3. We woke up and saw the cracks on the walls. In the next few days, the cracks increased and spread to the other walls, and then to other rooms. Even now, when we sleep, we sometimes hear cracking sounds,” said Mohan’s wife, Sateshwari Shah.
The Shahs’ house was built about 50 years ago. Their two sons as well as their grandchildren were born there. The Shahs live on the first floor, while the ground floor houses two shops, run by their sons, and some tenants. The shops are now shut.
Last year, they added two more rooms. Work was on to construct another two rooms, but the construction work stopped after the cracks appeared. The district administration has asked the Shahs to shift, but they have refused to do so – so far.
“They keep asking us to leave the house and move temporarily to the nearby Jyoti Lodge. They say our house may collapse soon. So far, we have been living in the rooms which don’t have large cracks, but we may have to leave soon. While the appearance of cracks has slowed down, the cracks are continuing to widen. We are worried,” said Sateshwari, taking a sip from a cup of tea she made in the kitchen, which also has cracks.
About 200 metres away, the family of Sanjay Sati, a contractor, was packing their belongings. After braving it for a few days, they decided that it is too dangerous to continue living there. While the local administration offered to provide temporary accommodation, the 12-member joint family decided to seek help from some of their friends.
“This was originally a stone house. In 1989, our father demolished that and built a new concrete house. By 1994, this was a six-room house. In 2006, I added some rooms, and five months ago, we added some more rooms on the first floor. While we saw minor cracks on some of the walls about a month back, on the morning of January 3, we found that the cracks had become too big to be ignored. In the next few days, the cracks became wider,” said Sanjay’s older brother, Vijay Sati.
Sanjay, who lives with his wife and two children, said they first closed the affected rooms and continued to live in the other rooms, but are too scared now. “Every time we hear strong wind or even dogs barking at night, we feel like the house is going to collapse. Now we have decided to leave and go to a friend’s house. My brother will also go to his friend’s house. The administration has said they will give Rs 4,000 per month for the next six months,” said Sanjay.
On Saturday, the Uttarakhand government sanctioned Rs 1 crore from the Chief Minister’s relief fund, mainly to help provide rent to the affected families. According to an official statement, the affected families will be given Rs 4,000 each as monthly rent for the next six months.
According to data provided by the Chamoli district administration, cracks were reported in 603 houses till Saturday. Two hotels, Mount View and Malari Inn, have been shut down, as one of the buildings, along with part of the land it is built on, was found to have tilted towards the other.
The district administration has said that 68 affected families have been shifted to temporary shelters so far.
One such shelter is at the Gurudwara Hemkund Sahib Ji, in the town’s main market, where nine families have been relocated. One of them is 65-year-old Bankelal, who shifted from the nearby Singhdhar village four days ago. “We get food on time and we have been provided enough beds for me, my wife, son, his wife, and two grandchildren,” he said.
However, for most families, it has not been easy to leave their homes.
The residence of Sunaina Saklani (23), in Sunil village on the way to Auli, was among the first houses that reported big cracks. Like a few other residents in the area, she noticed small cracks on the walls earlier, but ignored them until the cracks got bigger.
“About a month ago, we saw cracks just as wide as a thread. We ignored them, thinking that the paint had chipped. But some days ago, when we saw bigger cracks on the walls, we realised that it was a serious problem. We hear the sound of bricks sliding inside the walls. The cracks are increasing. We shifted to a nearby cafe on Friday, but it has not been easy for us,” she said.
“There are five members in my family and we have been provided just one room with no kitchen. There is no arrangement for food, as we are the only family living in that café. We go there every day around 8 pm to sleep and come back by 7 am to prepare our meals. We also have 12 cattle, and we cannot leave them too. It has been difficult,” said Sunaina.
The house was built about five years ago and the room with the most cracks was added just a few months ago, she said. She pointed out a part of the wall that was almost detached from the rest of the house. As a result, the roof of the house has tilted towards the centre.
The worst affected is the area near J P Colony, in the lower side of the town, where about 15 feet-long cracks have appeared on a boundary wall of Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd (JPVL) premises, with water gushing out from these cracks.
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