Authorities on Tuesday began the process of demolishing two hotels — Malari Inn and Mount View — that are facing each other as they sink into Joshimath in Uttarakhand. 60 laborers including two JCBs, a large crane and two tipper trucks were brought to the site for the demolition. State Disaster Response Force Commandant Manikant Mishra said, “Out of the two hotels, Malari Inn will be demolished today in a phased manner. First the top part will be broken. They are bent and have come very close to each other due to sinking.” Mishra further said, “It is necessary to break them because there are many houses and hotels nearby, if these two sink further, they may collapse. Therefore, the experts decided to demolish them. Experts from CBRI are coming, they did a survey yesterday and now they will” I will give more technical details on this.”
In Joshimath, the process of demolishing the hotels which have big cracks or have been shaken from their place has started. Bulldozers have reached the spot.#joshimath is sinking #joshimath pic.twitter.com/bIqzgtGWrj— Pawan Nautiyal (@pawanautiyal) January 10, 2023
Hotel Malari Inn owner Thakur Singh Rana said, “I have not received any notice from the administration. I am with the government’s decision to demolish my hotel in the public interest. But I should have received the notice before that.” The work of demolishing dilapidated buildings declared unsafe to live in has also started. According to Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Sinha, the buildings are being demolished in a planned manner. Those which have more cracks are being broken first. Unsafe buildings will be demolished first. The help of explosives is not being taken to demolish the buildings. Under the supervision of CBRI scientists, the PWD team is demolishing the buildings with mechanical techniques.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Defense Ajay Bhatt reached here and is holding a meeting with officials at the army base in Joshimath regarding the situation in the area. So far 678 houses have developed cracks due to land subsidence in Joshimath. Not only this, roads have also sunk in many places. Water is continuously coming out from under the ground. On Monday, Ranjit Kumar Sinha said, “The situation in Joshimath, where cracks have developed in over 600 houses, several roads and structures, is caused by the looseness of the soil and its low bearing capacity.”
(With IANS inputs)