SC refuses urgent listing of plea on Joshimath subsidence

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused urgent hearing of a plea seeking the court's intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand's Joshimath a national disaster, saying there are "democratically elected institutions" to deal with the situation and all important matters should not come to it. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha listed the plea of Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Joshimath for hearing on January 16.

Advocate Parmeshwar Nath Mishra, appearing for the Swami, mentioned the plea and sought its urgent listing for Wednesday. "Everything important need not come to us. There are democratically elected institutions to look into it. We will list it on January 16," the CJI said. The lawyer had mentioned the plea also on Monday for urgent listing.

"Mention again on Tuesday after following the due process when your matter is in the mentioning list," the bench had said. Saraswati has contended that the incident has occurred due to large-scale industrialisation and sought immediate financial assistance and compensation to the people of Uttarakhand. The plea has also sought direction to the National Disaster Management Authority to actively support the residents of Joshimath in these challenging times.

"No development is needed at the cost of human life and their ecosystem and if any such thing is to happen, then it is the duty of the State and Union government to stop the same immediately at war level," the plea by the Seer said. Joshimath, the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and international skiing destination Auli, is facing a major challenge due to land subsidence. Joshimath is sinking gradually with huge cracks developing in houses, on roads and fields. Many houses have tilted and are sinking, locals said. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered immediate evacuation of 600 families living in houses that are at risk.

The Centre on Tuesday announced that it will install micro seismic observation systems at Joshimath--the gradually sinking Himalayan town in Uttarakhand. Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh made the announcement at the India-UK Workshop of Geosciences here and said the observation systems will be in place by Wednesday. Addressing the workshop, he said there was a critical need for fundamental research on the physical processes that lead to failure of the brittle layers beneath the crust and sub-crust.

The minister noted that human consequences of natural disasters in India were rising rapidly and stressed on the need to devise proper mitigation strategies. Singh said the Ministry of Earth Sciences had established 37 new seismological centres in the last two years for extensive observation facilities, generating a huge database for outcome-oriented analytics. He said in the next five years, 100 more such seismological centres will be opened across the country for improving real time data monitoring and data collection. Officials said seismic microzonation study for the area would generate risk resilient parameters for safer dwellings and infrastructure. They said Joshimath falls under the highest seismic hazard Zone V as it experiences continuous seismogenic stresses.