Joshimath crisis: Supreme Court to hear today plea seeking national disaster tag for 'sinking' town

Joshimath sinking: As the hill town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand continues to witness land subsidence, a plea seeking the Supreme Court's intervention to declare the crisis as a national disaster will be heard by the top court on Monday.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala would hear the petition filed by Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, according to the cause list of January 16 uploaded on the apex court website.

Joshimath is sinking gradually with huge cracks developing in houses, on roads and fields. Joshimath is the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and the international skiing destination Auli.

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.

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"Everything important need not come to us. There are democratically elected institutions to look into it. We will list it on January 16," the CJI had said, after the counsel appearing for the petitioner had mentioned the plea and sought its urgent listing.

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.

(With inputs from PTI)