NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet have acted swiftly to start evacuation from Joshimath, a small town in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, which is reported to have started sinking due to geological reasons.
PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, held a high-level review of building damage and land subsidence in Joshimath on January 8. Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, senior officials of Government of India, and members of the National Disaster Management Authority, Chief Secretary and DGP of Uttarakhand, DM and Officials of Joshimath, senior officers of Uttarakhand, and experts from IIT Roorkee, National Institute of Disaster Management, Geological Survey of India, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology also attended the review through video-conferencing.
Chief Secretary Uttarakhand informed that state and district officials with the support of central experts had assessed the situation on ground. He informed that a strip of land with a width of around 350 meters was affected.
Home to one of the four sacrosanct seats of Hinduism, called peeths, established by the eighth century Vedic scholar Adi Shankaracharya, Joshimath or Jyotirmath is a gateway to several Himalayan mountain climbing expeditions trekking trails and pilgrim destinations such as Badrinath. Situated at a height of 6,150 feet above the sea level, since February last year when the entire state was ravaged by floods, things have been going downhill. Several buildings and concrete structures are developing cracks and one temple got completely ravaged recently.
One team of NDRF and four teams of SDRF have reached Joshimath. The district administration is working with the affected families to evacuate and relocate them to safer places with adequate arrangements for food, shelter and security. SP and Commandment of SDRF are stationed at the site. Residents of Joshimath are being informed of the developments and their cooperation is being sought.
