Joshimath sinking: CM Dhami inspects affected areas, meets families

Chamoli (Uttarakhand), January 7: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami arrived in Joshimath on Saturday to conduct a survey of land subsidence-affected areas and meet with affected families.

Before arriving in town, the chief minister conducted an aerial survey of Joshimath. Huge cracks have been seen in houses, roads, and fields in Joshimath, and many houses have suffered subsidence.

Due to landslides in Joshimath, cracks have been found on the Joshimath-Malari border road, which connects the India-China border. Landslides have also gripped a large portion of the Badrinath National Highway.

According to Joshimath Municipal Chairman Shailendra Pawar, huge cracks appeared in the houses in the Marwadi ward due to water leakage from within the ground.

The central government formed a panel on Friday to investigate the occurrence of land subsidence and its impact on the town of Joshimath.

District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana stated that due to the situation in Joshimath, all construction work has been halted until further orders are issued.

According to a Chamoli district administration statement issued on Friday, out of 561 establishments, 153 in the Ravigram ward, 127 in the Gandhinagar ward, 28 in the Marwadi ward, 24 in the Lower Bazaar ward, 52 in the Singhdhar ward, 71 in the Manohar Bagh ward, 29 in the Upper Bazaar ward 27 in the Sunil ward and 50 in Parsari have reported cracks.

Due to this, operations at Hotel View and Malari Inn have been restricted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, till further orders.

Nine families were displaced on Thursday, including four from Joshimath Municipal Corporation, one from Gurudwara Joshimath, one from Tourist Hostel, Manohar Bagh, and others.

Joshimath residents blocked the Badrinath Highway on Thursday morning to demand that the government and administration address the issue of land subsidence.

So far, 38 families have been forced to leave their homes.

Meanwhile, due to the ongoing land subsidence in Joshimath, the state government has sent a team of experts to assess the situation.

As a precaution, teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in the area.