Now, cracks in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag village, people fleeing

DEHRADUN: There is a striking similarity, local residents say, between Rudraprayag's Marora village and Joshimath. Separated by about 100km, houses in both these places in Uttarakhand have developed cracks and local residents are fleeing their homes with fear of losing everything they once had.
While Joshimath residents have blamed the NTPC project for their suffering, villagers in Marora are upset with the 125km-long Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail project.At least 13 families out of 43 in this Rudraprayag village have already moved to "safer areas". It was in 2021, when the cracks first appeared in their houses and the locals blamed it on the rail project, being constructed for pilgrims to reach Badrinath and beyond.
Marora sarpanch, Devi Prasad Thapliyal, said, "We got displaced due to continuous slope cutting in our hills for the rail project. Our houses sank, walls and ceilings developed cracks. Many villagers left out of fear. The only primary school is now in a shambles." Sudha Rana, headmaster of the Rajkiya Prathmik Vidyalaya, which has 21 students, said, "I've been associated with this school since 2018. There is nothing much left of it. The school is nothing but four tiny makeshift rooms made out of tin."
Sunil Rawat, a resident of Marora, added, "The Joshimath incident has left us all in shock... We are now looking for shelters elsewhere. Families are leaving or want to leave."
Villagers were told on Monday by officials that the district administration has received Rs 21 crore as part of compensation from the RVNL (Rail Vikas Nigam Limited). And that it will now be distributed to the people.
Chief project manager, RVNL, Ajeet Yadav, said, "For long-term settlement, land measuring 1.4 hectares had been acquired by the Railways for which Rs 20.9 crore was given to DM Rudraprayag." Besides Joshimath and Marora village, cracks are now being reported from several other parts of the state. Secretary, disaster management, Ranjit Kumar Sinha, said, "Issue of cracks in houses in Karnaprayag came to our knowledge and we have asked IIT-Roorkee to study the details. Similarly, a few instances have been reported from Ukhimath."