HP: Lahaul-Spiti village land sinks, residents seek geological survey

With nine of the 16 houses in Lindur village in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul and Spiti district developing cracks due to land sinking, the residents have sought a geological survey to ascertain the reason behind the subsidence.

The around 70 village residents are forced to sleep in the open as they fear their houses may collapse. Moreover, their agricultural land has also been damaged due to fissures, the villagers said.

"Cracks were noticed in the periphery of the village in June/July and have widened and spread, endangering houses. Nine out of 16 houses in the village have developed cracks and four of them have been declared unsafe," Sarita, Pradhan of Goharama Gram Panchayat told PTI.

The seepage of water from the nearby Jahmala nullah which gets flooded every year could be responsible for the cracks but it can only be ascertained by a survey of the Geological Department. We have requested the authorities to get a geological survey of the area done, she added.

Cracks have developed in some houses in the village and the officials have visited the place. Villagers whose houses have developed cracks have been given the option to shift to safe places but so far, no one has moved out, Deputy Commissioner of Lahaul and Spiti Rahul Kumar told PTI.

The situation is under control but the villagers are nervous. The Tehsildar has been directed to provide immediate relief to the affected families, Kumar said.

We have urged the government to ensure canalisation of the Jahmala nullah to resolve the seepage problem affecting two to three panchayats. The district administration has also written to the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, to conduct a study and suggest a remedy, he said.

There was a similar scare in Joshimath in neighbouring Uttarakhand earlier this year after huge cracks had appeared in several houses, fields, and roads making the town unsafe to live in, and a large number of people had to be moved to safer places.