Every minute counts! A review of the situation at Joshimath by the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand

From Dehradun: In landslide-prone Joshimath, several more houses, buildings and roads have suffered cracks, and hundreds of buildings have been declared unsafe by the local administration. Uttarakhand Chief Secretary S. S. Sandhu mentioned on Monday.

Known as the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Sri Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, the Joshimath has been challenged by landslides. Located at the foothills of Badrinath, the town has been declared a landslide prone area. On Monday, 27 families were shifted to a safe place by the local administration. So far, more than 82 families living in cracked houses here have been shifted to temporary relief centres.

About 687 houses in the city have been affected, roads and agricultural land have also suffered cracks, the Chamoli Disaster Management Authority said. National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force personnel have been deployed for relief and rescue operations. Chief Secretary Sandhu held a meeting of officers at the State Secretariat to review the situation here. On this occasion, he directed to speed up the work of relocating the residents to safe places.

Temporary relief centers have been constructed at 16 places for the affected citizens in Joshimath. Apart from this, they will also be provided in 19 hotels, guest houses and school buildings in Joshimath and neighboring Pipalkoti. Broken drinking water pipes and sewage pipes should be repaired immediately. Because this can make the situation more complicated, said Sandhu.

200 houses are vulnerable

The district administration has declared more than 200 houses unsafe for habitation. Residents of these houses have been asked to move to temporary relief centers or rented houses. For this, each family will be given financial assistance of Rs. 4,000 per month for the next six months from the state government. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered immediate relocation of 600 families from dangerous houses.

Urgent hearing on the petition today?

NEW DELHI: A petition has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to declare the Joshimath landslide crisis a national calamity. The court directed the petitioner to appeal to list the petition on Tuesday for urgent hearing.

Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and Nya. P. S. Narasimha’s bench counsel Parameshwara Nath Mishra gave this direction on Monday. Mishra appeared before the court on behalf of the petitioner Swami Avimukteswarananda Saraswati. He requested for an urgent hearing on this petition. On it, ‘Your petition is in the mentioned list. But appeal to schedule it for urgent hearing again on Tuesday after following due process,” the bench said.

Saraswati has claimed in the petition that large-scale industrialization is responsible for making Joshimath prone to landslides. He has also requested to provide immediate financial assistance and compensation to the citizens of Uttarakhand and to direct the National Disaster Management Authority (NDRF) to provide active support to the residents of Joshimath in this challenging situation.