In unsettled state

Battered by disasters, land- scarce Uttarakhand must relocate villages deemed unsafe. Forestland is the only available option, but the state faces resistance from forest department

- reports RAJU SAJWAN from RUDRAPRAYAG

NEARLY 12 years after the Kedarnath disaster of 2013, in which heavy rain triggered flash floods that killed over 4,000 people, Semi, a village of less than 100 people remains desolate. Situated on the banks of the Mandakini river in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district, Semi lies on the route to Kedarnath and bore the brunt of the disaster. Sitting in a house just below the road to Kedarnath, Vimala Devi fears another displacement. Her house had become unsafe after the 2013 disaster due to subsidence and the administration gave her husband Manohar Lal a compensation of ₹4 lakh, asking the family to move elsewhere. For a decade, the family—with their son, daughter-in-law and grandchild—lived in a tin shed near their home. “Since we have agricultural land in the village, we returned and built two rooms on our own land in the village two years ago,” says Vimala Devi. However, after this year’s rains, cracks appeared in their new house as well. “On August 28-29, heavy rain caused subsidence and the house developed cracks. The situation has become so dire that even slight rain reminds of the Kedarnath disaster, forcing us to leave,” she says.

The Mandakini is eroding its banks, making the village prone to landslides and subsidence. The Singoli Bhatwadi Hydroelectric Project, located directly below the village, has played a big role in exacerbating this erosion, say residents. The administration has set up a notice on a 1 km-stretch of the Kedarnath route above the village, declaring it a subsidence zone.