Construction of bypass road reignites protest in Joshimath

Mussoorie:

Residents and traders of Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district opposing the construction of the Helang-Marwari bypass road took out a protest march on Sunday under the banner of Prantiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal.

The construction of the Helang-Marwari bypass restarted in Joshimath on Monday after the state government gave permission to the Chamoli district administration and concerned agencies to do so. The work on the 5km bypass was halted on January 5 after dangerous cracks developed in many houses of the town, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of families, many of whom are still living in relief camps.

Over 300 protesting traders and residents of the gateway town to the Badrinath shrine marched across the markets of Joshimath against the restarting of construction and raised slogans against the government.

“With no business in the winter due to houses and hotels developing cracks, the locals including the trading community have suffered immensely and the construction of the Helang Bypass Road will add to the woes as the Chart Dham pilgrims will take the bypass road instead of entering the town,” said Nain Singh Bhandari, president of the Mandal.

The bypass aims to establish a new route that will end at Marwari and residents and traders fear that pilgrims on their way to the Badrinath shrine will prefer it instead of the old one as the distance will be shortened.

“The proposed bypass construction is an attack on religious tradition as devotees before embarking on the journey to Badrinath stop at Narsingh Temple at Joshimath, but with this construction of the bypass, they will avoid the town and head for Badrinath directly,” he said.

“A delegation of local residents had also met with the district administration officials a few days ago, urging them that the work on the bypass should be stopped,” Bhandari said. “If the work is not stopped soon, we will launch a massive agitation, including blocking the Badrinath highway.”

“The town’s economy is dependent on tourists who stay overnight at Joshimath, and after the visit to Narsingh temple, they head to Badrinath, but with the construction of the bypass road, no tourists or pilgrims will be interested in coming to the town as the new bypass will be much shorter in distance,” said Kailash Joshwal, a resident of Gandhinagar area in Joshimath.

The Helang-Marwari bypass, once constructed around 13km from Joshimath, aims to shorten the distance to Badrinath by 30km. It is part of the government’s ₹12,000 crore all-weather road project to the Char Dham Hindu shrines in the Himalayan state.

The Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a civil society organisation that has been demanding rehabilitation of the displaced people, has also objected to the building of the road.

“After the agitation in January, we met the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and presented an 11-point demand letter, including stopping the construction on the bypass road, but the government has given a go-ahead to the project even after the widespread damage to public and private property in Joshimath, which is unfortunate,” said Atul Sati, convener of the association.

The work on the bypass road was restarted based on reports of experts from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, the public works department and the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation, according to Ranjit Kumar Sinha, secretary of the state disaster management authority.