Joshimath crisis: Activists threaten to block traffic on route to Badrinath

The Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a group of local activists who first raised the land subsidence issue in the hill town, on Wednesday threatened to block traffic on the route to Badrinath if their demands are not met by April 27.

The Himalayan temple is scheduled to reopen for devotees after the winter break on April 27.

The Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti's (JBSS) demands include scrapping of the NTPC's Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project and the Helang-Marwadi bypass project.

In a letter to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, JBSS convener Atul Sati also demanded that the affected people should get adequate compensation and be rehabilitated properly.

If all this is not done by April 27, people will be forced to hit the streets in protest, Sati said in the letter.

He also said his organisation had urged the state government to constitute a high level committee consisting of local and JBSS representatives to deal with the crisis but the demand went unheeded compounding people's problems.

Another demand made by the JBSS for the constitution of a coordination committee at the local level to address the subsidence problem was also ignored, he claimed.

"Due to the state government's dilly-dallying over the crisis in Joshimath, people are getting impatient and angry. If positive steps are not taken by the state government on our genuine demands by April 27, JBSS will have no option but to resort to a chakka jam agitation which may inconvenience the pilgrims coming for Char Dham yatra," Sati said.

The letter also bears the signatures of JBSS secretary and spokesman Kamal Raturi, besides a few others.

Earlier talking to PTI, Sati expressed his unhappiness with the way the issue is being treated by the state government.

"People are unhappy with the state government. They are still homeless and forced to live in temporary relief camps," he said.

The eight scientific institutions which carried out their study of the subsidence crisis in the town from different angles are yet to make their report public.

"No programme has been worked out yet to save Joshimath. The JBSS has been agitating over the issue for four months. But we are not being heard," Sati alleged.