Joshimath sinking: Uttarakhand town in DANGER, residents to be evacuated

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is all set to visit the "sinking" town of Joshimath on Saturday (January 7). A place of religious and cultural importance, land subsidence has caused cracks in at least 500 homes in the Uttrakhand town, threatening to bring them down.

. A temple collapsed on Friday evening in Singdhar ward of Joshimath further alarming residents living under constant fear of a major disaster in the offing. Several experts have warned that many houses in the town are unlikely to survive.

The Centre has formed an expert panel to conduct a "rapid study" of land subsidence. A committee will study the effects of the sinking of land on human settlements, buildings, highways, infrastructure, and riverine systems, officials said.

"Saving lives is our first priority. Officials have been asked to shift around 600 families living in endangered houses in Joshimath to safe locations," Chief Minister Dhami said, adding that both immediate and long-term action plans should be prepared immediately.

Locals say climate change and constant infrastructure development are to blame. Experts argue that a variety of factors -- relating to both human activity and natural -- have led to the subsidence. The factors are not recent, they have built up over a long period of time, director of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology Kalachand Sain has said.

Dhami said a disaster control room should also be set up in the town, and there should be adequate deployment of both the state and national disaster response forces. Helicopter services will also be made available to help affected people.

Joshimath is the gateway to major Hindu and Sikh religious destinations like Badrinath, and Hemkund Sahib. It also houses one of the major military bases near India's border with China.

The Auli ropeway, which is Asia's biggest, has been stopped after a huge crack developed beneath it.

The Marwari area in the town, where an aquifer burst, is said to be the worst hit as water is constantly flowing down with great force.

All construction activities related to mega projects like the Chardham all-weather road (Helang- Marwari bypass) and the NTPC's hydel project have been stopped till further orders on the demand of residents. The state government has said people whose houses are affected and have to vacate will get ₹ 4,000 a month as rent for the next six months from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday expressed concern over the plight of people in Uttarakhand's Joshimath, where cracks have appeared in hundreds of houses, and asked the state government to take care of the affected populace and ensure their safety in this cold weather.

"The pictures coming from Joshimath in Uttarakhand are horrifying... I am deeply disturbed. Wide cracks in houses, seepage of water, cracks in the ground and subsidence of roads are a matter of great concern... A landslide caused the Bhagwati temple to collapse," he said in a Facebook post in Hindi.

A plea has been filed by Supreme Court seeking to declare the current incidents of Joshimath land subsidence as a 'national disaster' & direct the National Disaster Management Authority to actively support the residents who are facing severe threat to life and property.