Rescue and Relief Efforts Intensified in Joshimath, as PMO Reviewed Situation

GG News Bureau

Dehradun, 9th Jan. Joshimath was declared a landslide and subsidence-hit zone on Sunday, with the Centre emphasizing that the immediate priority is the safety of people and asking experts to prepare short and long-term conservation and rehabilitation plans.

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-affected Manohar Bagh, Singdhar, and Marwari areas and urged residents to relocate to temporary relief centers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to review the situation, including the steps taken thus far to ensure the safety and rehabilitation of residents, and to assure him of the necessary assistance.

What did the administration have to say about it?

The administration relocated 13 more families living in houses with large cracks to safe locations on Sunday, according to officials. According to the Chamoli district disaster management office, the number of families evacuated to temporary relief centers has now reached 68.

Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar said that the number of houses developing cracks in the town has increased from 561 to 610.

The Uttarakhand chief secretary stated that state and district officials, with the assistance of central experts, assessed the situation on the ground and informed that a strip of land with a width of around 350 meters is affected, according to the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday after a high-level review meeting.

How is the Centre responding?

According to the statement, central government agencies and experts are assisting Uttarakhand in preparing plans to deal with the Joshimath situation, with the immediate priority being the safety of the people.

Affected families are being relocated to safe locations, according to a PMO statement, adding that Prime Minister Modi is concerned and has discussed the situation with Chief Minister Dhami.

One National Disaster Response Force team and four State Disaster Response Force teams have already arrived in Joshimath.

The meeting was chaired by P K Mishra, the prime minister’s principal secretary, who stressed that the immediate priority should be the safety of people living in the affected area and that the state government should establish a clear and continuous communication channel with the residents.

On Monday, the Border Management Secretary and members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will assess the situation in Uttarakhand.

A team of experts from National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Institute of Disaster Management, Geological Survey of India, IIT Roorkee, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Institute of Hydrology and Central Building Research Institute will study the situations and give recommendations, the PMO said.

The Uttarakhand chief secretary briefed the PMO about the ground situation during the meeting, officials said.

Central government agencies and experts are assisting Uttarakhand to prepare short, medium and long term plans to deal with the Joshimath situation, they added.

Immediate efforts should be made to arrest the deterioration in the situation through practical measures that may be feasible, Mishra said.

He suggested that an interdisciplinary investigation of the affected area be conducted. Experts from a variety of central institutions, including the NDMA, NIDM, the Geological Survey of India, IIT Roorkee, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, the National Institute of Hydrology, and the Central Building Research Institute, should collaborate closely with Uttarakhand in the spirit of the “Whole of Government” approach.

He stated that a clear time-bound reconstruction plan and continuous seismic monitoring are required, as well as the development of a risk-sensitive urban development plan for Joshimath.

Ration kits were distributed to affected families, as well as an ex gratia of Rs 2.30 lakh divided among 46 of them at a rate of Rs 5,000 per family for the purchase of necessary household items.

DM Khurana went door-to-door, requesting that people living in damaged houses leave and relocate to temporary relief centres.

During his visit to the town, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Sukhbir Singh Sandhu made a similar appeal to the people: “You should not take any chances. Residents’ safety is an immediate priority, and the district administration is working tirelessly to ensure it “.

A review meeting was held

The cabinet secretary, other senior officials from the central government, and members of the NDMA joined the review meeting via video conference, as did the state’s chief secretary and DGP. Joshimath district officials also attended the meeting.

Participants included experts from IIT Roorkee, the Geological Survey of India, and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology.

Dhami went to Joshimath on Saturday to assess the situation, a day after ordering the immediate evacuation of 600 affected families.

Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana stated that 229 rooms with a capacity to accommodate 1,271 people have been identified at various locations throughout the town.

The cause has yet to be determined by experts

Geologists are investigating the causes of land subsidence. According to the CS, whatever treatment is required will be carried out in Joshimath based on their recommendations.

Given the extent of the damage, Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar told PTI that at least 82 more families will need to be evacuated to temporary relief centers as soon as possible.

Kumar, who has been camping in Joshimath since Thursday, is the head of a committee tasked with monitoring the situation on the ground.

Joshimath has a total of 4,500 buildings, of which 610 have developed huge cracks and are unfit for habitation, he said, adding that a survey is still ongoing and the number of affected buildings may increase.

“Land subsidence has been going on slowly in Joshimath for quite sometime but it has increased over the past one week with huge cracks appearing in houses, fields and roads,” the Garhwal Commissioner said.

“The situation worsened apparently after a water channel beneath the town erupted last week,” he said.

On his way back from visiting the affected areas in Joshimath on Saturday, Chief Minister Dhami met with officials in Dehradun and asked them to relax the norms to expedite relief operations.

He instructed them not to get bogged down in lengthy procedural complexities and to seek direct approval from him for works related to the treatment of drainage and sewage systems in Joshimath.

The National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing in Dehradun have been tasked with conducting a satellite imagery study of the Joshimath area and submitting a detailed report with photographs.

A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court requesting that the Centre form a committee led by a retired judge to investigate the sinking of the Joshimath and rehabilitate the affected families.

Earlier, a seer petitioned the Supreme Court to declare the Joshimath crisis a national disaster.

According to experts, the land subsidence in Joshimath is primarily the result of the National Thermal Power Corporation’s Tapovan Vishnugad Hydro Power Project, and it serves as a stark reminder that people are irreversibly destroying the environment.