Joshimath Sinking: Demolition Process Begins, 2 'Unsafe' Hotels Razed

The demolition process of two unsafe hotels, which had developed cracks and precariously leaned towards each other, started following an agreement between the administration and the property owners

Police personnel deployed outside Hotel Malari Inn ahead of its demolition, in Joshimath, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.

New Delhi: The demolition process of the two ‘unsafe’ hotels -Malari Inn and Mount View hotels – began in Joshimath on Thursday after protests over compensation by owners stalled the exercise for over two days.  

Both the hotels became a threat to people owing to land subsidence in the region. “The Malari Inn and Mount View hotels had developed cracks and were precariously leaning towards each other, posing a threat to the settlements around them,” news agency PTI reported citing officials. The demolition began following an agreement between the administration and the property owners.

The evacuation of affected people to safer locations is underway after the holy town in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand was declared a land-subsidence zone, according to District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana.

The buildings are being razed under the technical supervision of Roorkee-based Central Building Research Institute, (CBRI) Secretary (Disaster Management) Ranjit Sinha told PTI.

Chief scientist at CBRI Roorkee, Devi Prasad Kanungo, one of the key persons behind the Supertech twin-towers blast in Noida, is conducting the exercise with expert teams in Joshimath, according to a report by the Times of India. The agreement set the stage for the first demolition in the town, where more than 700 houses are impacted.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah monitored the situation and steps taken to ameliorate people’s hardship at a meeting attended by Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, RK Singh, Bhupendra Yadav, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, besides top officials.

On Thursday, 27 more families moved to temporary relief centres even as the number of houses developing cracks in the town rose to 760, Sinha said. A total of 169 families comprising 589 members have so far been shifted to relief centres. So far, an interim assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh has been paid to 42 affected families.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said a committee would decide the market rate for compensation to be paid to the families affected in Joshimath keeping in mind the interests of stakeholders.

Joshimath, the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites such as Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib as well as popular as international skiing destination Auli, is undergoing a major challenge due to subsidence.