Vacate affected areas in Joshimath without delay: Chief Secy Sandhu to officials

Uttarakhand chief secretary SS Sandhu on Monday chaired a high-level meeting on the emerging situation in Joshimath and directed officials to vacate the affected areas without any delay and immediately demolish buildings that developed cracks and have become dilapidated.

Directing officials, Sandhu said, “In view of the land subsidence in Joshimath, every minute is very important for us. People living in the affected areas should be shifted to a safe place without delay.”

“Buildings which have developed cracks and have become dilapidated should be demolished immediately so that they don’t cause any further damage,” he added.

So far, 603 buildings in Joshimath town have developed cracks, and more than 68 families were temporarily shifted to safer locations and disaster relief camps developed by the state government.

The chief secretary also instructed the officials that proper arrangement of drinking water should be ensured at the places where people are being moved. Further, “Broken drinking water lines, sewer and power lines in the affected area in Joshimath should be repaired at the earliest,” he said.

He said officials should remain present in Joshimath and keep an eye on the situation, ensuring there is no loss of life or property in the area.

He said officials should start working on preventing toe erosion from Monday itself and instructed that arrangements should be made to bring experts by chopper so that they don’t take much time to reach the affected areas.

Under sections 33 and 34 of the Disaster Management Act 2005, orders were passed to vacate the areas prone to excessive land subsidence in view of the safety of people by the state government on Sunday.

According to district officials, they are identifying the houses affected by land subsidence and the vulnerable families were temporarily moved to safer places.

According to government officials, food kits and blankets were distributed to the affected families as per their requirements additionally, funds were distributed to 46 affected families for essential household items at the rate of ₹5000 per family.