Joshimath 'sinking': Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami to hold high-level meet; other top developments

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he will hold a high-level meeting with top officials in Dehradun today in the wake of the land subsidence at Joshimath. Dhami said, “I will hold a high-level meeting with top officials in Dehradun this evening regarding landslides in Joshimath and cracks in houses.” Officials of Disaster Management, Irrigation, Home Department, Commissioner Garhwal Mandal, and District Magistrate Chamoli will participate in the meeting. He further said that he would visit Joshimath on Saturday. 

Joshimath landslides updates: Here’s what you need to know

1. The administration has evacuated those whose houses have developed cracks and shifted them to night shelters of the municipality. 

2. Some of the families have also been shifted to the places of their relatives for the time being. 

3. Locals have said that while they have been assured by the government that they will be provided pre-fabricated houses, they are worried about when these houses will be allotted. 

4. Cracks have developed in 561 houses so far – 153 in Ravigram, 127 in Gandhinagar, 71 in Manoharbagh, 52 in Singhdhar, 50 in Parsari, 29 in Upper Bazar, 28 in Marwadi, 27 in Suneel, and 24 in Lower Bazar. 

5. A total of 66 families are reported to have migrated from Joshimath on account of cracks in houses. 

6. The Chamoli administration has placed a ban on construction activities in and around the “sinking” town amid protests by a group of residents. 

7. Construction activities that are impacted due to the ban include the construction of the Helang bypass by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), work of the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project, and other construction work undertaken by the municipality till further orders. 

8. Residents’ demands are immediate rehabilitation of residents, stopping construction of an NTPC tunnel and a Helang-Marwadi bypass road for Badrinath, and fixing responsibility of the disaster on the NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project, according to news agency PTI. 

9. Joshimath is located at a height of 6,000 feet in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district and falls in the high-risk seismic ‘Zone-V’. Joshimath is situated on the route to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib. 

10. The Uttarakhand government has formed a team of scientists to probe the reasons behind land subsidence and the resultant damage to the houses. This team comprises engineers from IIT Roorkee, Geological Survey of India, and Wadia Institute. 

(With agency inputs)

Also read: Haldwani demolition: 50,000 people can’t be uprooted overnight, says Supreme Court

Also read: 'Cracks increasing every hour': Panic grips Joshimath; Auli ropeway service suspended, NDRF on alert