Relief and rescue efforts have intensified at Uttarakhand’s temple town of Joshimath in Chamoli district after the Uttarakhand government declared it a landslide and subsidence-hit zone. Underlining people’s safety as its topmost priority, the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday convened a high-level meet and directed officials to prepare short- and long-term plans for conservation and rehabilitation.
Joshimath, the gateway to well-known pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, is facing nature’s wrath with several houses developing huge cracks in the area over the past week. Experts claim that the crisis is primarily due to the National Thermal Power Corporation’s Tapovan Vishnugad Hydro Power Project.
At the meeting chaired by P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, senior officials from the Centre and Uttarakhand government, and top officers from agencies including the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), were asked to adopt a “whole of government” approach.
The officials were asked to work together to contain the situation, undertake continuous seismic monitoring, prepare a time-bound reconstruction plan, and develop a risk-sensitive urban development plan.
PM Modi reviews situation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and reviewed the situation, including the steps taken so far for the safety and rehabilitation of residents, and assured him of necessary assistance, the CM said in a tweet.
The CM has also sanctioned Rs 1 crore from the CM’s Relief Fund which would be used mainly to help provide rent for the affected families, an official said.
On Sunday, senior Uttarakhand government officials including Chief Secretary Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, DGP Ashok Kumar and Secretary to the Chief Minister R Meenakshi Sundaram visited the worst-hit Manohar Bagh, Singdhar and Marwari areas. They appealed to people to shift to temporary relief centres.
Chamoli district disaster management office said that a total of 68 families have been evacuated to temporary relief centres. Thirteen families living in houses which developed huge cracks were shifted to safer locations on Sunday, reported PTI.
Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar told the news agency that the number of houses developing cracks in the town has risen from 561 to 610.
Chamoli District Magistrate (DM) Himanshu Khurana said that there are a total of 4,500 buildings in Joshimath and 610 of these have developed huge cracks, rendering them unsafe to stay in.
Meanwhile, a team from the National Disaster Response Force and four teams of the State Disaster Response Force are stationed in the town.
‘Sinking’ Joshimath issue reaches court
Meanwhile, a petition has been in the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the Centre to constitute a committee headed by a retired judge to look into the issue of the sinking of Joshimath and rehabilitate the affected families.
Earlier, a seer had moved the Supreme Court seeking that the Joshimath crisis be declared a national disaster.