Joshimath: Sector officials deployed to complete survey work

JOSHIMATH: In wake of the land subsidence in Joshimath, the District Magistrate of Chamoli, Himanshu Khurana, have deployed sector officials for all the wards to complete the survey works.

The officers will be tasked to shift the affected families to alternative shelter buildings and to ensure other arrangements for the affected people, an official release said.

"DM Chamoli, Himanshu Khurana has deployed sector officers for all the wards to complete the survey works in all the wards of Joshimath, to shift the affected families to alternative shelter buildings and to ensure all other arrangements for the affected people," it said.

Incidentally, huge cracks have been seen in houses, roads and fields and many houses have suffered subsidence. Cracks have been found at several places on the Joshimath-Malari border road, which connects the India-China border, due to landslides in Joshimath.

A large part of the Badrinath National Highway is also in the grip of landslides.

According to the Chamoli district administration statement 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 which the operations of Hotel View and Malari Inn have been restricted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, till further orders.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also conducted a survey of the areas in the town where houses and other establishments, roads and fields have displayed cracks due to land subsidence. He also met with displaced families who were relocated after cracks were seen in their houses. He said that the scientists were looking into the cause of the land subsidence in the state's Joshimath and the first priority remains to ensure that people are taken to safer areas. The teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also been deployed in the area as a precautionary measure, Chamoli Chief Development Officer (CDO) Lalit Narayan Mishra said on Friday.