Local traders close Joshimath market in protest against Helang Marwari bypass
The traders of Joshimath town kept the Joshimath market closed on Friday, June 23, in protest against the construction of Helang Marwari Bypass. During this, a protest was organized by taking out a procession.
Earlier on Thursday, the traders of Joshimath told in a memorandum to the sub-collector that the construction of the Helang Marwari bypass would end the existence of the traders of Joshimath as well as stop the business.
They have raised the demand for widening Badrinath Highway from Joshimath market itself. They had said that on Friday, all the traders of Joshimath would shut down their establishments and take out a protest rally against the bypass construction.
Experts from IIT Roorkee, Lonivi and THDCIL were asked to conduct a survey and report on behalf of the government to start the bypass construction. On April 11, the experts of the three institutes submitted their report to the government. Citing this report, a request was made by Brigadier Prasanna S Joshi, Chief Engineer, BRO Shivalik Range, to start the construction of the bypass at the earliest.
The report states that the Joshimath land subsidence will not have any impact on the construction of the Helang Marwari Bypass. After this, on behalf of Secretary Disaster Management Dr. Ranjit Sinha, conditional approval was given for the construction of the bypass by writing a letter to the Commissioner Garhwal Mandal, District Administration and BRO in this regard.
