Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to review the situation on the ‘sinking’ town of Joshimath, a town in Uttarakhand facing land subsidence affecting the lives of hundreds of families.
with Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, RK Singh, Bhupendra Yadav and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat participating, on issues related to roads, power supply, water scarcity and environment in the Joshimath in the wake of land subsidence.
Other senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, including Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, attended the meeting that lasted for nearly 40 minutes at the Home Minister’s residence. Minor cracks were observed in several buildings of the Indian Army after the Joshimath land subsidence and soldiers have been temporarily relocated, said Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Thursday.
Addressing the annual Army Day press conference, General Pande said, “25-28 buildings (of Army) have developed minor cracks and the soldiers have been temporarily relocated. If needed they will be permanently relocated to Auli.” Despite the ongoing crisis, the Army chief affirmed that the army’s accessibility to the forward areas has not been affected.
As of now over 720 buildings have been identified that have reportedly developed cracks in the Joshimath city area due to land subsidence. Residents, as a part of the rehabilitation, have been moved to safer places even as geologists and experts scramble to ascertain the reasons for subsidence in the ecologically fragile region.
Shah took stock of the situation and directed to take relief measures in the meeting which was also learnt to be attended by the National Disaster Management Authority, Senior officers of Uttarakhand; and experts from IIT Roorkee, National Institute of Disaster Management, Geological Survey of India and Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology through video conferencing.
The Home Minister was apprised that 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.