Have deployed NDRF, given rehabilitation package to affected people in Joshimath, Uttarakhand Govt tells Delhi HC

New Delhi [India], January 12 (ANI): The Uttarakhand government on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that the Centre and State government are taking all possible steps with regard to the Joshimath land subsidence crisis, including deployment of NDRF teams and providing rehabilitation packages to the affected people.

The counsel said that National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the state NDRF team have been deployed and have relocated residents to special rehabilitation centres with necessary kits. The bench comprised Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.

The state government counsel also informed that a similar matter is also pending before the Supreme Court.

“NDRF and SDRF teams have been deployed and necessary committees have been formed to look into the rehabilitation and relocation matter. Work is being done on ground and we have managed to relocate affected people,” the counsel told the judges.

After noting down the submissions, the Delhi High court deferred the matter for February 3, 2023. The High Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for direction to the Centre to constitute a high power joint committee in the chairmanship of retired Justice of High Court to look into the sinking of Joshimath in Uttarakhand.

The plea sought direction to constitute a committee and representatives of all relevant ministries to work for the rehabilitation of people from the affected areas of Joshimath.

The petitioner Rohit Rohit Dandriyal, a practising lawyer stated that the construction activity done in the town of Joshimath in past years worked as a catalyst in the present scenario. Through these activities, the respondents violated the fundament right of the people right of the residents of the area.

The plea further stated that at present the authorities have to provide modern amenable living facilities to the citizens. “It is pertinent for the Union of India to take cognizance of the plight of the people of people Garhwal region of Uttarakhand and take note to provide the citizens with basic facilities important to lead a dignified and respectable life,” as per the plea.

Life in the hill town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand has been disrupted in the last few days as residents took to the streets to demand action for the cracks that have developed in their houses.

“In one of the strangest phenomena to strike the holy town nestled in the serene hills of Chamoli at a height of 6,000 ft, houses started developing cracks and damages since 2021, leaving residents anxious and worried. Since the first reports of the cracks in 2021 after landslides in Chamoli, over 570 houses have sustained damages or cracks as residents experienced seismic tremors repeatedly in the subsequent years,” stated the plea.

Joshimath, also known as Jyotirmath, is a city and a municipal board in Chamoli District in Uttarakhand. Located at a height of 6150 feet (1875 m), it is a gateway to several Himalayan mountain climbing expeditions, trekking trails and pilgrim centres like Badrinath.

“It is home to one of the four cardinal pithas established by Adi Shankara. Since 7 February 2021, the area was severely affected by the 2021 Uttarakhand flood and its aftermath,” the plea further read.