A month after mass evacuation from Uttarakhand’s Joshimath due to an alarming land subsidence that caused deep cracks in buildings and roads in the area, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced on Sunday that he has flagged off relief materials for the displaced families in Joshimath from Uttarakhand Sadan in Delhi on Sunday. Dhami thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah for extending the relief material from the national capital.
Joshimath’s sinkage – caused by overdevelopment in a highly seismic zone – has affected a number of families who sustained huge losses due to land subsidence and water discharge in the area.
Here are the latest developments:
1. According to Chamoli district magistrate Himanshu Khurana, relief amount of ₹439.03 lakh has already been distributed to 750 affected people whose houses had developed cracks due to land subsidence as an advance relief. The state government is providing the distressed families a special rehabilitation package, a one-time special grant for the transportation of goods and immediate needs and the purchase of household items.
2. According to the state government data, 878 houses have developed cracks in the region as of February 3. The residents of Joshimath who are still waiting to be shifted to the transit shelters or prefabricated homes as promised by the administration, say they are being “forced to live like refugees”.
Read more | Joshimath crisis: A month on, evacuees say forced to live like refugees
3. Meanwhile, a similar disaster has come to light in a town in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 19 houses in Doda town in the union territory have developed cracks, deputy commissioner of Doda Vishesh Paul Mahajan told ANI. A team of scientists from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) visited Doda to analyse land subsidence after residents started complaining about cracks.
4. In Joshimath, 995 members of 296 families of residents have been shifted to relief centres in safe places after cracks appeared at several homes, earth sciences minister Jitendra Singh told Rajya Sabha earlier this week. Uttarakhand Chief minister Dhami said that 70 per cent of the rehabilitation had been completed now and that the situation of the area was “stable”.
5. The chief minister also thanked the people for donating relief materials for the people of Joshimath whether directly or through the “Mukhyamantari Rahat Kosh” scheme by the state government.
