Joshimath's stalled hydel plant gets NDMA's restart clearance

DEHRADUN: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), operating under Union ministry of home affairs, said "it has no objection to Uttarakhand govt permitting NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) to restart construction at Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project site", which was stalled since subsidence started in Joshimath town in Jan 2023.

"Detailed interactions with expert govt institutions have not indicated any causal link of NTPC's tunnelling activity with subsidence (in Joshimath)," NDMA wrote in a letter, dated July 16, to the Uttarakhand HC.

The Uttarakhand govt on Jan 5, 2023, had issued an order halting all works at NTPC's Tapovan-Vishnugad project after the issue of land subsidence aggravated in Joshimath, mak-ing hundreds of homes uninhabitable and forcing around 1,000 people to evacuate due to widened cracks of the structures.

Following this, NDMA formed a group of multi-institutional expert organisations to conduct an immediate technical assessment of the hazard and associated damage along with a study of the causes and contributory factors and a comprehensive, in-depth multi-disciplinary investigation into subsidence and its causative factors.

In its report to HC, NDMA also mentioned that experts have listed several reasons for the land subsidence - the most common being that natural water that flows from Auli to Joshimath was interrupted due to unregulated construction in the town.

"This disruption has led to an increase in pore water pressure, which has resulted in removal of soil particles along with the water, creating sub-surface flow paths, ultimately causing the land to subside," the report stated. "NTPC is required to exercise caution and adopt comprehensive safety measures," NDMA said in its directions.


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