JOIN USDeclare Joshimath situation a national calamity, stop all projects till assessment is done: Congress
Pointing fingers at the Narendra Modi government's "uncontrolled development projects" for the land subsidence in Uttarakhand's Joshimath, Congress on Monday demanded that the situation in the holy place be declared a national calamity and stop work at projects that are detrimental to the sustenance of the locality till experts study it.
Demanding that the situation in Joshimath be declared a national disaster, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Protect nature. The whole country is worried and is with the people of Joshimath, where unbridled development has created cracks in Uttarakhand's 'Devasthal'."
"Stop all new projects, including railways and hydel power, until a newly appointed high-level committee of experts, scientists, environmentalists and local people submits its report. The oustees of Joshimath be given adequate compensation from the PM-CARES fund, instead of only Rs 5000," Kharge tweeted.
Congress Media Department Chairman Pawan Khera put the responsibility on Modi government for going ahead with projects like Char Dham railway project in an ecologically sensitive state "without proper study and consultation with experts", which is becoming an "ecological disaster".
Addressing a press conference here, Khera said, "This is a man-made disaster. The condition of Joshimath is deteriorating every hour. The uncontrolled development initiated by the BJP is responsible for this. This is a very serious matter and the Modi government cannot get away with just forming a committee."
Accusing the Modi government of not pro-actively dealing with the situation in Joshimath where cracks have appeared in several houses following tunnel boring exercise, Khera said the Prime Minister took a review meeting only after days. "People have been in trouble since January 3 but the review meeting was held 4-5 days later. The Prime Minister did not listen till now."
Referring to locals' allegation that the tunnel boring exercise by the NTPC for the latest developments, he claimed around 250 explosions took place for opening the tunnel and it was stopped only on January 5, two days after locals protested. "The 'double engine' BJP government, especially the Modi government has woken up much later - that too only to supply food. The Rs 5,000 compensation is a joke," he alleged.
He said the Modi government is ignoring the Mahesh Mishra Committee report, which in 1976 suggested several measures for protecting the fragile environment in Uttarakhand, which was followed by successive governments.
Saying that the Congress has "always taken steps to keep a balance between development and nature", he said in 2010, the then UPA government had stopped work on three power projects after activist J D Agarwal protested. "We all know how Agarwal died after he was detained while protesting against a project in Bhagirathi in 2017 when Modi was in power. Congress has always talked about sustainable development," he said.
Asked about the government's stand that there is no provision to declare an incident a national disaster, Khera said priority is people and everything else follows.
Uttarakhand Congress leader Mahesh Khanduri alleged the BJP government's response was shoddy despite adequate warnings. He said Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami visited the affected locality on Sunday only and that too for two hours.
Another Congress functionary Sujata Paul said one could not expect Dhami to tell the Prime Minister to stop the projects damaging the state, as he was appointed Chief Minister by Modi even after losing the elections recently.