Joshimath, the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and international skiing destination Auli, is facing a major challenge due to land subsidence. Joshimath is sinking gradually with huge cracks developing in houses, on roads and fields. Many houses have tilted and are sinking, locals said.
The Supreme Court received a plea seeking the court’s intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath as a national disaster. According to the cause list of January 16 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala would hear the petition filed by Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati.
On January 10, the top court had refused urgent hearing of the plea, saying there are “democratically elected institutions” to deal with the situation and all important matters should not come to it. It had listed Saraswati’s plea for hearing on January 16. The petitioner has contended that the incident has occurred due to large-scale industrialisation and sought immediate financial assistance and compensation to the people of Uttarakhand. The plea has also sought direction to the National Disaster Management Authority to actively support the residents of Joshimath in these challenging times. “No development is needed at the cost of human life and their ecosystem and if any such thing is to happen, then it is the duty of the State and Union government to stop the same immediately at war level,” the plea by the Seer said.
Source: indiatvnews.com
NHAI focuses on Training to Enhance Engineering Measures on Road Safety
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has been focussing on training to enhance engineering measures for improving Road Safety. Officials said that under the aegis of ‘Road Safety Week’ that is being observed from January 11-17, NHAI is focusing on creating awareness around road safety.
The authority is also giving a lot of emphasis on training of NHAI engineers in Road Safety Audit to enhance engineering measures for improving safety on the roads. Officials said the NHAI is imparting mandatory 15-days Road Safety Audit Training to its engineers. The completion of training has been made a key criterion for the promotion of engineers to the post of Manager and Deputy General Manager. During the year 2022-23, about 240 NHAI engineers have been trained at IIT Delhi, Central Road Research Institute and Indian Academy of Highway Engineers. Apart from this, NHAI is also prioritising deployment of technology to make highways safer. Advance Traffic Management System (ATMS) is being implemented on National Highways and Expressways for managing incidents of road crashes and enforcement of speed limit and other regulations on highways. The ATMS has been implemented for around 3,000 km of National Highways.
Source: business-standard.com