Centre's Team To Visit Uttarakhand's 'Sinking' Town For Inspection Today

A team from the Ministry of Home Affairs will visit Joshimath in Uttarakhand's Chamoli, where land subsidence has occurred, district magistrate, Himanshu Khurana said on Monday. 

The official said that the work of demolition of buildings will be started tomorrow.

"Today a team from the Ministry of Jal Shakti had come, tomorrow also a team from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India will come to Joshimath. The work of demolition of buildings will be started from tomorrow under the supervision of the team of Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roorkee," Mr Khurana said.

The areas where the buildings will be demolished have been vacated by the administration after they were declared unsafe zone.

"People's belongings are being shifted with the help of SDRF personnel on the spot. People are getting very sad and emotional as they evacuate their homes," sources said.

Meanwhile, District Disaster Management Authority, Chamoli has issued a bulletin related to disaster management in view of landslides happening in the Joshimath area.

According to the bulletin, cracks have been noticed in a total of 678 buildings in the Joshimath town area. In view of security, a total of 81 families have been temporarily displaced.

"Under Joshimath city area, 213 rooms have been temporarily identified as habitable, whose capacity has been estimated at 1191, along with this, 491 rooms/halls have been identified in Pipalkoti outside Joshimath area, whose capacity is 2,205," the bulletin said.

The administration has also distributed food kits and blankets to the affected families as per their requirements along with the distribution of funds for essential household items at the rate of Rs 5,000 per family.

A total of 63 food kits and 53 blankets have been made available.

Joshimath, which is witnessing land subsidence forcing the Uttarakhand government to shift the locals to safer places, has been divided into three zones based on the magnitude of possible danger, an official said on Monday.

This comes after the Joshimath area was declared disaster-prone following cracks developing in the buildings of city. According to Chamoli District Disaster Management Authority, 603 buildings in Joshimath town have developed cracks so far.

Owing to the latest developments, the administration has divided the city into three zones, 'Danger', 'Buffer', and 'Completely safe' zones.

Speaking to ANI, Secretary to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, R Meenakshi Sundaram said that the administration is conducting a survey to assess the danger and buffer zones.

"The zone which is totally unsafe, that has to be evacuated immediately, that has been called a danger zone. A buffer zone is a zone which is presently safe but can be endangered in the future. And the third is the completely safe zone. A survey is underway for the danger and buffer zone," he said.

The official said that the administration is also collecting data of the professionals living there.

"We are collecting the details of the number of affected families including how many are residential and commercial. Besides this, we are also collecting data of the occupation of the families. Based on this, the decision can be taken on where to shift them. I am taking a look at the possible places," Sundaram said.

He said that the buildings which have sustained the most damage will be demolished.

"The buildings which are most damaged will be demolished under the monitoring of NIM and PWD. The administration is making preparations for it," he said.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the state of all the possible help in the wake of the land subsidence in the holy town of Joshimath.

The CM said that Prime Minister Modi was seized of the situation in Joshimath and taking regular updates.

After nine wards or municipal areas of the Joshimath were declared as a 'sinking zone', CM Dhami said he had called for a collective effort at this hour of crisis.

"We have urged everyone to work as a team and save Joshimath. Residents of 68 houses, which were deemed to be in danger of collapse, have been shifted. An area spreading across 600 houses has been earmarked as a danger zone and efforts are underway to shift the residents inhabiting the area. At this time, everyone needs to come together to save Joshimath," the CM told ANI.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)