Sinking of Joshimath: Construction of four-lane highways making whole system weak, says INSA emeritus scientist

New Delhi [India], January 8 : Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Emeritus Scientist DM Banerjee on Sunday said that the construction of four-lane highways is making the whole system weak and they should not have been made.
Speaking to ANI, Banerjee said, "Joshimath is a part of the lesser Himalayas, the rocks are from the Precambrian era and the territory is of seismic zone 4. Apart from this, people should not have made houses on this land especially not the big ones with 3-4 storeys."
He said that the fundamental problem of Joshimath is the fact that it is located on very weak ground.
"The whole town is located on a major slip what you call a landslide which has taken place about 6000-7000 years ago. The whole mountain range wherever the mount house is there, they are not in a proper position. So, obviously, when it slips from its original position, it will always be unstable. So, right in the beginning when the people started living there, they were living in an unstable zone and it shouldn't have grown like a big city or big town, the way it has become. It should have remained small, helmeted, or just like the village," he added.
Banerjee said there is enormous pressure on the government to make the place accessible and approachable for devotees to offer prayers at religious places like Badrinath and Kedarnath.
"There is enormous pressure on the present government to make religious places accessible. People have been going to Badrinath and Kedarnath, but they have to walk and travel. Now the government wants all these places approachable so that they can go there by car and bus, which is a wrong step. The Himalayan terrain is fragile, soft, and structurally weak and it is affected by tectonic forces, and therefore it is an unstable zone. The whole region falls in an earthquake zone of 4 which makes it unstable," Banerjee said.
Banerjee said that the four-lane roads right up to the Himalayas and different places should not have been done because they make the whole system weak.
"Besides the material which has been excavated from the mountains for the construction of the road has been dumped in the river and the river has become narrow. Everybody blames the glacier, but the glacier is one of the causes. The main cause is damming of the river. The material comes from the muck which has been produced by the blasting. This is a long approach. The Geological Survey of India has already submitted a report and other independent organizations also submitted the report about 10 years ago. Either these reports were not shown to the authorities or the authorities never bothered to know about it," he added.
Speaking about how expert opinions are not considered, he said, "The problem with the engineers is they are the people who construct all these things, but they don't bother about the geologists. They think they know everything and don't bother about the geological activity. Not taking geological inputs into consideration the situation has become like this. This is going to happen in many other aspects of the Indian system where the expert opinion is not taken care and then you destroy the system."
Talking about measures that can be taken, he said, "We can stop the highway construction which is very dangerous even the tunnels which are being built. Everybody is happy that his tunnels are being made. Ladakh and Spiti areas are being connected and enough security measures have been taken, but these are all fragile zones and there is always a danger of collapse. If it does not collapse, there will be groundwater. The water which will seep through it, will make the material weak. This is happening in Atal Tunnel also. The water will always find its place downhill and make the rock weak.