Tuesday, 10 January 2023 | PNS | Dehradun
The leader of opposition (LoP) in the State assembly Yashpal Arya visited the families affected by land subsidence in Joshimath city on Monday. He met the affected families and assured full support of the Congress party to them. He said that due to human errors, the existence of the city of Joshimath that has historic, cultural and religious importance is threatened. The LoP said that efforts should be made to save maximum areas of this city of strategic importance. Arya visited the Manohar Bagh, Dodila, Singhdhar, Nai Ravigram, Ravigram, Jai Bharti and Marwadi wards of the city and assessed the ground situation there. He said that the residents of Joshimath were pleading to the State government to save them from the last 14 months but no heed was paid to their plea. Arya said that the house of Madan Lal in Dodila Mohalla had subsided 14 months ago and a dozen other houses had subsided in the last year. He opined that the things could have been different had the government acted earlier. Arya said that ‘Joshimath Bachao Samiti was demanding total ban on the work of NTPC and Helang- Marwadi Bypass but the government remained aloof to the issue. He said that now the government has decided to stall these works after damage to 500 houses has occurred. Arya claimed that as per an agreement reached in the year 2010, the NTPC had to provide insurance to the houses of Joshimath and a high power committee was to review the implementation of the agreement but the government has not set up the committee. He said that the affected families would not have to find ways for an honourable displacement had the NTPC insured the houses. The LoP said that integrated efforts should be made in this time of disaster and every effort possible should be made to save whatever can be in Joshimath. He opined that it is difficult to deal with a disaster of such a scale with the administrative machinery only so the State government should set up a high power committee and constitute many coordination committees to deal with the situation effectively.
