Joshimath landslide: Uttarakhand CM chairs high-level meeting; official says subsidence not in entire area

Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Uttarakhand, chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday (January 7) regarding the land subsidence in the Joshimath town ofChamoli district. The meeting was attended by administration officials and public representatives after Dhami surveyed areas in Joshimath earlier in the day where roads and fields, houses and other establishments developed cracks because of land subsidence, a report by news agency ANI said.

Dhami also met with the displaced families who were relocated, and said scientists were looking into the cause of the land subsidence. The Chief Minister pointed out that the priority was to make sure that people were taken to safer places. The Uttarakhand government has sanctioned funds from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for providing houses at a cheaper rate to displaced families. As per Dhami, the houses will be provided to such families for Rs 4,000 per month for six months.

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Cracks have been found at several places on the Joshimath-Malari border road due to landslides in the town. A large portion of the Badrinath National Highway is also under the grip of the landslides. Many houses in the town are on the verge of collapse with terrified families evacuating.

The Chamoli district administration said on Friday that of the 561 establishments that reported cracks, 153 are in the Ravigram ward, 127 in the Gandhinagar ward, 28 in the Marwadi ward, 24 in the Lower Bazaar ward, 52 in the Singhdhar ward, 71 in the Manohar Bagh ward, 29 in the Upper Bazaar ward 27 in the Sunil ward and 50 in Parsari.

On Saturday, Chamoli's district magistrate Himanshu Khurana said that there was no subsidence in the entire area of Joshimath.

"There is no subsidence in the entire area of Joshimath, there is a part of the city where there are cracks but it is not big. There is a special place where cracks have increased," Khurana told ANI. Khurana said the work of shifting affected people to safer places was being done quickly and currently they would be shifted by acquiring safe hotels inside the town. "In Joshimath itself, the land of the Horticulture Department has also been searched for the construction of the shelter," the district magistrate added.

A team of experts includinggeologists andbuilding specialists has surveyed landslide-affected areas and teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are on standby. The Uttarakhand government has halted all construction activities in and around Joshimath.

Meanwhile, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court of India to immediately intervene for providing urgent relief to the people of Joshimath facing extremities and danger to life and property.The petition said, "No development is needed at the cost of human life and their ecosystem and if anything such is happening it is the duty of the State and Union governments to stop the same immediately at war level."

(With inputs from agencies)

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