Uttarakhand Chief Minister Says 'Char Dham Yatra' To Begin Soon

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah  and gave him detailed information about the current situation in Joshimath, a town in Uttarakhand facing land subsidence affecting lives of hundreds of families residing in the region.

In the nearly half-an-hour meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr Dhami said he gave detailed information about the situation in Joshimath, the condition of people in the region and other points.

After the meeting, Mr Dhami announced that "Char Dham Yatra will be starting in the next four months".

Char Dham of Uttarakhand includes Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath Dham.

"Today, I gave detailed information to the Home Minister about the situation in Joshimath and the way people are living there in the disaster relief camps," Mr Dhami said after the meeting with Home Minister.

"I also gave information about the search for new places and other works being done by the state government," he said.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister also said that the Home Minister assured him to give whatever help can be provided from the Centre.

Asked if any report was submitted, Mr Dhami said input will be submitted after the complete report is received.

The Chief Minister said there was no talk about financial assistance. "A tentative information I have shared with the Home Minister. This matter will be discussed later when the full report comes."

Replying to allegations made by some political parties that the Uttarakhand government is suppressing the reports of various agencies related to Joshimath, the Chief Minister said "there is nothing like this."

"People sitting at different places of the country are talking about Uttarakhand, which is not right at all because 65 to 70 per cent people living there are doing their job normally,"Mr Dhami said.

Mr Dhami further said that there is a tourist place Auli in Uttarakhand where people are visiting.

He further said, "Char Dham Yatra will be also starting in the next four months, so creating this type of environment by people sitting at some other places in the country is not good for Uttarakhand as well as the country."

The meeting was held days after Mr Shah chaired a high-level meeting with Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, RK Singh, Bhupendra Yadav and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on the Joshimath issue.

Due to land subsidence in the Joshimath city area, over 720 buildings have been identified that developed cracks. 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.

Uttarakhand government has also ordered the authorities to start surveying and dismantling the infrastructures that are posing a threat to the surrounding buildings as well.

Joshimath, on the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway (NH 7), is an overnight halt for the people visiting the holy shrines at Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and tourist destinations Auli, and the Valley of Flowers.

Along with Joshimath, the same phenomenon of land subsidence is also being reported from other areas of Uttarakhand including Uttarkashi, Tehri, Pauri and Karanprayag.

Uttarakhand government has also announced a relief package of Rs 45 crore to families in Joshimath, where large cracks appeared in homes and on roads. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has also declared a relief package for nearly 3,000 families affected by gradual land subsidence in the Himalayan state.

The Chief Minister has also announced that Rs 50,000 have been given by the state disaster authority to each family as a non-adjustable one-time special grant for the transportation of goods and immediate needs of their buildings.

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