So far, toe erosion in the foothills of Joshimath from the Alaknanda river has been assessed as a major reason for the subsidence. In the meeting of the Pushkar Singh Dhami cabinet to be held on Friday, an important decision regarding stopping toe erosion will be taken.
Along with temporary and permanent rehabilitation of the residents of buildings that have become unsafe in the area, the cabinet will also approve the proposal to give them compensation in the form of immediate relief. A relief package of about one thousand crores to be sent to the Center will also be approved.
State government machinery and central agencies on alert mode:
State government machinery and central agencies are on alert mode after the grim situation of landslide in Joshimath surfaced since last January 2. For the safety of the city and its residents, immediate works are being executed at various levels.
Along with this, the causes of landslides are also being investigated from the level of the state government as well as central institutions. Whatever preliminary findings have come out so far, they will now be approved by the cabinet. Disaster Management Secretary Dr. Ranjit Sinha told reporters on Thursday that important decisions will be taken in the cabinet meeting on Friday regarding the security and rehabilitation of Joshimath.
There will also be geological survey of the sites being identified for rehabilitation. A proposal has been received from the Irrigation Department to start drainage related works in Joshimath and prevention of toe-erosion in EPC mode immediately. In this, a file has been sent to Finance to nominate the proposed single source organization.
Different investigations are being done to know the cause of landslide:
Disaster Management Secretary said that keeping in mind the different aspects of the landslide in Joshimath, different investigations are being done. IIT Roorkee is doing geotechnical studies. Satellite photos of Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) land movement will be made available.
Geological study of selected land for land survey and rehabilitation of GSI affected area is being done. The Wadia Himalayan Geological Institute is conducting a seismic study of the area. Three seismic stations have been installed. Apart from this, geophysical exploration of underground sub surface survey has been started.
Formation of committee for risk assessment:
Dr. Sinha informed that the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) is conducting the geophysical study of the affected area. Its hydrological map will also be made available.
The NGRI team is reaching Joshimath on Friday. It will study the underground water channel. A committee of CBRI, Wadia Institute, GSI, IIRS and NGRI has been constituted for risk assessment.
30 engineers of PWD to cooperate with CBRI:
He informed that along with CBRI, a team of 30 engineers of the Public Works Department has also been deployed to assess the damage caused by subsidence in the buildings.
Assessment of damages due to CBRI demolition, monitoring of houses to be demolished and design of pre-fab huts for temporary rehabilitation is being prepared. The CBRI team has reached Joshimath and started surveying the damaged buildings.
One more team of NDRF will reach:
Dr. Sinha told that initially the water leakage in Joshimath was 540 LPM. It has now reduced to 240 LPM. Army, ITBP helicopters have been deployed in view of any possible danger in the areas affected by the landslide.
Two NDRF teams are deployed, while one more team is being sent to Joshimath. Eight columns of SDRF have been deployed in Joshimath.
The affected have been given Rs 5000 per family for household relief material. So far, this amount has been given to a total of 73 affected people. For more or completely damaged buildings, Rs 13 lakh has been distributed to 10 affected, Rs 12 thousand to three families at the rate of Rs 4000 per family.
The number of displaced families is 169:
According to the Disaster Management Secretary, the number of displaced families in landslide affected areas has increased to 169. Its total membership is 589. There is accommodation for 1425 persons in 344 rooms selected for the temporary camp at Joshimath.
In Pipalkoti, 2205 people will be able to stay in 491 rooms. Four wards Gandhinagar ward number-one, Singhdhar ward number-four, Manohar Bagh ward number-five and Sunil ward number-seven and their 128 buildings have been declared unsafe.
