Residents of Joshimath have expressed anger at the government for trying to shift attention from the “real reasons” behind the subsidence and blaming the lack of sewer lines and drainage system instead.

The residents said the government allowed unbridled construction of big hotels and infrastructure and tourism projects on unstable earth, precipitating the crisis that has led to cracks appearing on houses and the ground and triggering an evacuation drive.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and officials have been claiming that the lack of sewer lines and a proper drainage system have corroded the ground due to seepage of water, resulting in subsidence when development projects were implemented.

“This is all rubbish, what the chief minister and his officers are saying. The governments allowed the construction of multi-storey hotels and bungalows without approval. Most hotels had permission for two to three floors, but they constructed seven floors,” said Shamli Dubey, who is participating in a dharna by Joshimath residents demanding proper compensation and a rehabilitation plan.

“The government brought the National Thermal Power Corporation here for a hydropower project and the Hindustan Construction Company for the construction and widening of roads. The government also allowed houses on land belonging to the forest department,” Dubey added.

“The chief minister says there is a lack of sewer lines and development has been uncontrolled. Who is supposed to regulate development and build sewer lines? What does the chief minister want to say? It is not my duty; it is his duty to regulate those things,” she said.

“Rich people must have influenced officials to get approval for their illegal hotels and houses, but we had built our houses brick-by-brick. And then one day some paramilitary personnel knock at our doors and ask us to immediately vacate our homes. My belongings are in the house and I have got a bed here on the floor of a school, about 10km from my home. We are nine members of a family living in one room at a school just because the government didn’t regulate the construction work in Joshimath,” Debey added, referring to the temporary shelters many residents have been shifted to.

“We have heard government officials say that there is no drainage system in Joshimath. Who should build the drainage system, we the residents of Joshimath or the government? Businessmen from other states have come here over the past six-seven years and built hotels and resorts. Who invited them to do so and who gave them permission?” said Rajesh Rawat, another resident on dharna.