Joshimath Sinking: The Supreme Court will today hear a plea seeking the court’s intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath as a national calamity.
According to the January 16 cause list uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala will hear the petition filed by Swami Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati.
The gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Joshimath, Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and international skiing destination Auli, is facing a major challenge due to land subsidence.
Joshimath is slowly sinking, huge cracks are appearing in houses, roads and fields. Locals said that many houses were leaning and sinking.
The top court had on January 10 refused an urgent hearing on the plea saying that there are “democratically elected institutions” to deal with the situation and all important matters should not come under it.
It listed Saraswati’s plea for hearing on January 16.
After the counsel appearing for the petitioner mentioned the petition and sought its immediate listing, the CJI had said, “Not every important thing needs to come to us. There are democratically elected bodies to look into it. We Will list it on January 16.”
The petitioner has argued that the incident happened due to large scale industrialization and sought immediate financial assistance and compensation to the people of Uttarakhand.
The petition has also sought a direction to the National Disaster Management Authority to actively support the residents of Joshimath in this challenging time.
The saint’s petition said, “There is no need for any development at the cost of human lives and their ecosystem and if anything happens, it is the duty of the state and central government to immediately stop it on a war footing.” ” ,
,With inputs from PTI,
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