Fresh incidents of land subsidence in Joshimath in the last two days have triggered panic among the residents of the temple town.

The land caved in at two places and subsided at three places in Sunil ward on Saturday night. Vinod Saklani, near whose house the land subsided, said: “Such incidents seem to have increased during the monsoon. We wonder what will happen if it starts happening inside the houses in my locality.”

Over 650 houses in Joshimath, including around 50 in Sunil ward, had developed cracks in January this year, rendering over 4,000 people homeless. Although the Pushkar Singh Dhami government had provided compensation to those who had agreed to leave their damaged houses, about 60 families were still living in shelter homes provided to them by the local administration.

The residents, who had stopped worrying because no fresh land subsidence was reported between March and June, have blamed the government for its apathy towards the calamity.

“The floors of our houses had subsided and its walls had developed cracks. The government had offered us less than the market rate for our land, which we refused to accept. The government at that time had blamed it on poor sewer network and drainage system and said it would soon build them afresh. But it didn’t do anything except wait for the worst to happen. The incidents in Sunil ward suggest that Joshimath would vanish and we would be dead,” Sheela Negi, a resident who is living in a shelter home, told the reporters on Sunday.

“The government makes tall claims but doesn’t do anything on the ground,” she said. “The residents noticed craters at two places and found that the land had sunk at three places. These fresh incidents suggest that it would continue to happen in the future.”