Pushkar Singh Dhami briefs Amit Shah on Joshimath; says 65-70% leading normal life

A team of National Geophysical Research Institute checks the bearing capacity of soil at the land subsidence-affected area in Joshimath on Tuesday. PTI

The CM told mediapersons that the home minister assured him of all assistance needed to deal with the current situation in Joshimath. “Today, I gave detailed information to him (Shah) about the situation in Joshimath. I also told him about the search for new places and other works being done by the state government. He assured that all assistance will be provided by the Centre,” Dhami said. Responding to allegation made by some political parties that the Uttarakhand government is suppressing reports of various agencies on Joshimath, Dhami said: “People sitting at different places in the country are talking about Uttarakhand, which is not right because 65 to 70 per cent of the people living there are leading their lives normally. In nearby Auli, which is a tourist attraction, everything is going on normally. Tourists are still visiting Auli. Char Dham Yatra will start in the next four months,” he said.

Dhami also said there was no talk about money. “I have shared tentative information with him. This matter will be discussed later when we will submit a full report, once it comes,” he said.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police personnel prepare for the demolition of the Hotel Malari Inn, which has been marked unsafe, in Joshimath. (PTI/File)

Share reports: govt to institutes

The Uttarakhand government has urged various technical institutes studying the land subsidence and landslides in Joshimath to share their reports with each other for better understanding of the situation. Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha on Wednesday told mediapersons that Uttarakhand Chief Secretary S S Sandhu has urged the directors and scientists of various technical institutes working in Joshimath to study the affected areas on an immediate basis and submit the report at the earliest.

“Landslide study in Joshimath should be done in a time-bound manner. Various technical institutes should also share their study reports with each other. Along with clarity in the study reports, the solution should also be discussed,” said Sinha.

Earlier on Tuesday, the central government issued a timeline for the technical institutions being run by it to submit study reports on the disaster-affected areas in Joshimath.

“A team of 10 scientists from the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) has been given three-week time to submit their report. Similarly, a 10-member team of scientists from National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and a seven-member team from Wadia Institute have been given two weeks for preliminary report and three weeks for the final report,” said Sinha.

The government has given two weeks for the preliminary report and two months for the final report to a team of seven scientists from Geological Survey of India (GSI). One week for the preliminary report and three weeks for the final report have been given to the team of four scientists of Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), he said.

Meanwhile, the water discharge in Joshimath has reduced for the third consecutive day. Sinha said that the water discharge has come down to 100 LPM (litres per minute) from 540 LPM around a week ago. According to data provided by the Chamoli district administration, so far, cracks have been spotted in 849 buildings and 181 structures have been identified as being located in “unsafe zone”. Total 865 people from 258 families have been temporarily displaced.