Joshimath subsidence: Uttarakhand CM to hold high-level meet on Friday

Chamoli (Uttarakhand) [India], January 5 (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will hold a high-level meeting in Dehradun on Friday evening in the wake of the land subsidence at Joshimath in Chamoli district, sources said.

Apart from the officials of the Disaster, Irrigation, Home Department, Commissioner Garhwal Mandal and District Magistrate Chamoli will also participate in the meeting. Earlier on Thursday, a team of experts, including officials from the administration and State Disaster Management, surveyed the areas which were affected in the land subsidence.

Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar and Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha visited the affected areas in the Chamoli district.
Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government formed a team of scientists to find out the reason behind the occurrence of land subsidence in Joshimath and the resultant damage to the houses.

According to an official statement, engineers from the Geological Survey of India, Wadia Institute and IIT Roorkee have been included in the team formed on the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

The BJP state unit has also formed a 14-member committee, under the coordination of the party’s state general secretary Aditya Kothari to assess the land subsidence incident and the damages being reported.

The party’s state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said the committee constituted on the instructions of state president Mahendra Prasad Bhatt will visit the site on January 6 and hold talks with local residents, businessmen and public representatives, adding that it will submit its report to the state leadership.

Cracks have reportedly developed in as many as 561 houses in Joshimath as a result of continued land subsidence in the town, stated the District Disaster Management Department.

Following the appearance of cracks in the houses, a total of 66 families are reported to have migrated from Joshimath as of now.

“Now the process of increasing cracks in Singhdhar and Marwadi has started. Badrinath NH near Singhdhar Jain locality and JP Company Gate in Marwadi, near the forest department check post, is continuously cracking. This crack is increasing every hour which is worrying,” said Joshimath Municipal Chairman Shailendra Pawar.

As many as nine houses in Marwadi have reported cracks and at the same time cracks have started appearing in most public roads of the ward, stated the City Board Chairman, Joshimath. District Disaster Management Department has also reported cases of water seepage from underground in JP Colony, Marwadi ward of Joshimath.

“Cracks are also increasing on all the main roads of Sunil Ward due to which people are facing a lot of difficulty in walking,” said Shalendar Panwar.
After continued land sinking in Joshimath, District Magistrate Chamoli has posted Joint Magistrate Deepak Saini in Joshimath.

Earlier in the day, in the wake of the news of land subsidence in Joshimath and cracks developing in many houses in the town, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said necessary actions would be taken to save the people of the district.

CM Dhami would be visiting Joshimath soon to take stock of the situation and initiate necessary actions. The statement comes in the backdrop of reports of huge cracks that have appeared in the houses of the area due to land subsidence which is known as the vertical sinking of land in an area.

“I will be visiting Joshimath in a few days and initiate steps to handle the situation. All the reports will be monitored and all the required steps will be taken. I have had a word with the Municipal Corporation chairman Shailendra Pawar to monitor the condition in the district,” said CM Pushkar Singh Dhami told ANI.

Joshimath Municipal Chairman Shailendra Pawar said huge cracks have appeared in the houses due to leakage of water from inside the ground in the Marwadi ward.

The Chamoli district administration on Thursday asked Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to be prepared to shelter the affected families migrating from Uttarakhand’s Joshimath due to land subsidence.

HCC and NTPC each have been directed to build 2,000 prefabricated houses — a shelter for family migrating from Joshimath.