Land subsidence was reported in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath in the last week of December. Huge cracks have developed in hundreds of houses and roads in Joshimath, the holy town known as the gateway to the sacred pilgrimage sites of Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib. Local authorities declared Joshimath a landslide and subsidence-hit zone last week.
A survey by Joshimath’s municipality has revealed that cracks have appeared in over 500 houses in the town over a year, rendering them inhabitable, Hindustan Times reported.
In 2022, the Uttarakhand government's expert panel found that ground subsidence — a gradual sinking of the earth's surface due to the removal or displacement of subsurface materials — has resulted in structural defects and damage in almost all wards of the city.
About 4,000 people have been evacuated to temporary relief centres.
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There are calls to declare this calamity as a National Disaster so that residents of Joshimath can receive active assistance from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). There were similar calls for the declaration of Kerala floods as a national disaster in 2018.
However, the question is whether a provision actually exists in Indian law under which any calamity can be declared a national disaster.
This question is of utmost importance as Uttarakhand often witnesses calamities like forest fires, avalanches, flash floods, and landslides.
According to an Indian Express report, there is no provision to declare a natural calamity as a national disaster.
While responding to a question in Parliament in 2018, Kiren Rijiju stated, “The existing guidelines of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)/National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) do not contemplate declaring a disaster as a National Calamity.”
A calamity is declared a “calamity of rare severity” on a case-by-case basis in India. Factors like the intensity and magnitude of the calamity, the level of assistance required and the state’s capacity to deal with the disaster are taken into account.
When any particular calamity is adjudicated to be of severe nature, the central government’s assistance is provided to the state government which includes NDMA’s assistance. A Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) is established, with the corpus split 3:2 between the Centre and the states.
ALSO READ | Joshimath: 1976 report warned that town was on ancient landslide, human activity poses danger
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
First Published: Jan 10, 2023 3:07 PM IST
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