Joshimath crisis: PMO team reaches to take stock of situation. Top updates here

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“A team headed by Mangesh Ghildiyal had come from the Prime Minister’s Office to visit the disaster-hit areas of Joshimath, mainly the Joshimath Auli ropeway tower which has cracks and is closed for the time being,” District Magistrate of Chamoli, Himanshu Khurana said.

Life in the hill town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand has been disrupted in the last few days as residents took to the streets to demand action for the cracks that have developed in their houses.

Also Read: Supreme Court to hear plea on Joshimath land subsidence on today

Joshimath is also known as Jyotirmath. It is a city and a municipal board in Chamoli District in Uttarakhand. Located at the height of 6150 feet (1875 m), it is a gateway to several Himalayan mountain climbing expeditions, trekking trails, and pilgrim centres like Badrinath.

Since the incident of land subsidence occurred, teams of many scientists and other experts are constantly visiting the areas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is keeping an eye on this whole incident. The team reached Joshimath and visited all the places where cracks have been found, as reported by ANI.

All the teams of the Uttarakhand State Government are also visiting Joshimath continuously. Today Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Sinha also reached Joshimath.

Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha on Sunday inspected the landslide-affected areas in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath and said that there has been an uptick in the number of cracks, but no new areas have faced damages.

The Secretary inspected areas including Auli Ropeway, Manohar Bagh, Shankaracharya Math, JP Colony along with geologists and senior officials.

Speaking to ANI, Sinha said that the teams are conducting tests to ascertain if there is any particular pattern of developing cracks.

“Relief and rescue operations are being conducted. There has been an uptick in the number of cracks in some places. Cracks haven’t developed in new areas. There is a minor increase in the cracks of approx 1mm but we are monitoring them. We are also finding a pattern so that in the future there is no damage. All teams are conducting tests whether there is any pattern developing of the cracks. After the tests, we will take action based on it. The cracks have increased, but there is nothing to worry about,” he said.

“The Central and state governments are making combined efforts during this period. Our all teams have reached here for investigation & now their research will tell what is the reason behind it. After that action will be taken on the same accordingly,” Sinha added.

Apart from this, cracks have also started to appear in houses in Sharana Chai village of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. A local also told ANI that a wall collapsed in Joshimath’s Marwari village on Sunday.

Multiple cracks appeared on houses on Sunday. “Natural calamities like cloud bursts occur more often,” Dalip Singh Pawar, one of the residents, said while talking to ANI.

“In case of low magnitude earthquake whole village will be severely affected,” said another resident.

“Today, Joshimath is on the brink of collapse, tomorrow the whole of Uttarakhand will be destroyed,” he added.

Multiple cracks appeared on houses on Sunday. “Natural calamities like cloud bursts occur more often,” Dalip Singh Pawar, one of the residents, said while talking to ANI.

He informed that the geophysical study of the affected area is being done by the NGRI Hyderabad. NGRI is studying the underground water channel. After the study, the geophysical and hydrological map will also be made available by NGRI. These maps will be useful for Joshimath’s drainage plan and stabilization plan. 

With Joshimath reeling under severe crisis after hundreds of buildings developed cracks due to shifting soil, an old video of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj is surfacing where she warned of an imminent threat to Uttarakhand from dams being built on the Ganga river.

In the video being widely shared on social media and flashed on news channels, Swaraj is seen saying in Parliament that the dams being built on the Ganga and its tributaries will have to be scrapped to save Uttarakhand in the wake of the 2013 Kedarnath disaster. 

Swaraj’s video was also shared by former Union minister and senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on her Twitter handle. Bharti whose attachment to Uttarakhand is well known has also been against the construction of dams on the Bhagirathi river.

Meanwhile, the number of houses that have developed cracks in Joshimath has now risen to 826, of which 165 are in the “unsafe zone”, a bulletin from the Disaster Management Authority said on Sunday. So far 233 families have been shifted to temporary relief centres, it added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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