Joshimath crisis: PMO holds meeting; top officials to visit Uttarakhand tomorrow to access situation

Joshimath was built on an ancient landslide site, and has always had low bearing capacity. (Photo: Vaibhav via Wikimedia Commons)

The Prime Minister's Office on January 8 held a high-level review meeting on Joshimath situation. Chief Secretary SS Sandhu and Director General of Police (DGP) Ashok Kumar participated in the meeting of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) through video conferencing.

During the meeting, it was known that central government, central agencies, and experts assisting the state government has been asked to prepare short, medium, and long-term plans to tackle to the crisis. It was also stated that the Secretary of Border Management and members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) are to visit the state tomorrow and assess the situation further.

One team of the National Disaster Response Force and four teams of the State Disaster Response Force have already reached Joshimath, where people are in alarm due to land subsidence and cracks have developed in hundreds of houses. Affected families are being shifted to safe locations, an official statement read.

Further, a team of experts from NDMA, the National Institute of Disaster Management, the Geological Survey of India, IIT Roorkee, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, the National Institute of Hydrology, and the Central Building Research Institute will study the situation and give recommendations, they said.

The review meeting was attended by the cabinet secretary, other senior officials of the central government, and members of the National Disaster Management Authority.

District officials of Joshimath besides senior officials of Uttarakhand attended the review meeting through video-conferencing.

Uttrakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited Joshimath on Saturday to assess the situation on the ground, a day after he directed the immediate evacuation of around 600 affected families. Dhami said Joshimath is an important place from the cultural, religious and tourism points of view and all efforts will be made to save it.

Joshimath, the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and international skiing destination Auli, is facing a major challenge due to land subsidence.