After Joshimath, wide cracks in Uttarkashi's Mastari village cause panic

Wide cracks have appeared in the roads and walls of several homes in Mastari village here, nearly 300 km from Joshimath, which caught national attention earlier this year when thousands of people had to be evacuated to safer locations due to land subsidence.

The quick response team of the disaster management authority rushed to the village to inspect the cracks and asked people there to be alert.

While land subsidence is an old problem in the village, rains last Saturday led to the widening of cracks at people's homes, with water beginning to stream out of the crevices, causing panic among the villagers, Satyanarayan Semwal, the head of Mastari, said.

"Landslides are happening continuously in the village but the authorities are not paying as much attention to Mastari as it deserves," Semwal said.

The problem of land subsidence began in Mastari village after the earthquake of 1991, locals say.

In 1997, geologists conducted a survey in the village and suggested that the villagers be moved out to a safer location besides recommending some other protective measures.

The cracks in the houses from the courtyards to the roads in Mastari became wider following heavy rains on Saturday night, he said.

Semwal said cracks have appeared in the courtyard of Chandra Mohan's house and in the walls of the houses of Khimanand, Shiv Narayan, Harish, Ramji, Jayaprakash, Sundar Lal, Shankar, Devi Prasad, Ramanand, Surendra, Baijnath, Mukesh, Balbir and Jai Singh.

He also said that the cracks are getting bigger and that water has started to stream out of them.

District Disaster Management officer Devendra Patwal said three geological investigations have been conducted in the village. The villagers have not suffered any major loss, he said.

Meanwhile, a fresh crack has appeared near a house in Joshimath raising concern among people about the land-subsidence issue in the hill town aggravating during monsoon.

The crack which is said to have been around six feet deep has been filled by locals but a team of PWD engineers is keeping an eye on the problem.

In January, 868 houses in Joshimath had developed cracks. Of these, 181 houses were declared unsafe by the district administration and their occupants were evacuated to safe locations within and outside the town.

Sixty families in Joshimath are living in relief camps.