Joshimath Sinking: The Uttarakhand Chief Secretary on Monday said that every minute counts as more homes, buildings, and roads began to break in the sinking town of Joshimath, red crosses appeared on hundreds of shaky structures, and many locals continued to live there despite the danger, news agency PTI reported.


The number of properties impacted by subsidence increased to 678, and 27 additional people were evacuated to safety, according to a statement from the Chamoli Disaster Management Authority. It also stated that 82 households had so far been relocated to safe areas in the town.


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  • In a meeting with state secretariat employees to discuss the situation in Joshimath, Chief Secretary S. S. Sandhu urged them to expedite the evacuation process since "every minute is important."

  • More than 200 homes in the sinking town were marked with red crosses by the district administration as being unfit for habitation. They were instructed to move into temporary relief centres or rent housing, for which the state government would provide each family with assistance of Rs. 4000 per month for the following six months.

  • For the relief and rescue operations, members of the National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force have been dispatched.

  • For the impacted population, temporary relief centres have been constructed in 16 locations around Joshimath. Along with these, 19 other hotels, guesthouses, and educational facilities in Joshimath and 20 further ones beyond the town in Pipalkoti have been located for the impacted residents.

  • According to Sandhu, work should be done right once to reduce toe erosion in the regions affected by subsidence, and crumbling homes that have developed significant fissures should be demolished quickly to prevent additional harm.

  • Broken sewer and drinking water lines should also be fixed right away, he advised, since they might make the situation in the subsidence zone more difficult.

  • Many families in the impacted region are finding it difficult to leave their houses because of their strong emotional attachments to them.

  • Even individuals who have moved to temporary shelters are unable to resist the attraction of home and keep going back to their abandoned homes in the danger zone.

  • Parmeshwari Devi, an elderly resident of the town's worst-hit ward, Marwari, claimed she spent all of her funds to buy a home, and she is now being ordered to vacate it and move into a relief camp. "I would prefer dying where I belong rather than going anywhere else. Where will I get the comfort of my own home," Devi told a private news channel, PTI reported.

  • Suraj Kaparwan, a local of Joshimath's Manoharbhagh, tells a like tale. The family is still debating whether to sell their house.

  • Rishi Devi, a native of Singdhar, had to relocate with her family to a safer area since her house was progressively collapsing, but she still goes back to her house every day in spite of her relatives' attempts to stop her.

  • Devi is now sitting in the courtyard and is fixated by the room's cracked walls.

  • After the rooms started to develop cracks, Rama Devi's family was obliged to spend the night on the interior verandah of their home, but they eventually had to flee in a panic. "Our room used to shake every now and then, scaring us. So we began to sleep on the verandah. But even the verandah developed cracks last night. Now we are moving into rented accommodation," Rami Devi of Gandhinagar was quoted by PTI in its report.

  • The Congress asked on Monday that the soil subsidence issue in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, be classified as a national catastrophe and that all construction projects there be put on hold until a report on the matter is produced by experts and environmentalists.

  • Due to the "unbridled growth" in the region, the opposition party referred to it as a man-made tragedy and demanded more compensation for each impacted residence. The ancient Joshimath town was to be preserved, and a new town would be built to help the locals get back on their feet.

  • The compensation should be doubled to Rs 50,000 each victim, and a "new Joshimath" should be constructed while maintaining the historic centre, according to former chief minister Harish Rawat.

  • The first fractures in Joshimath, according to Congressman Manish Khanduri, showed in 2019, but the state's BJP government responded in a "shoddy and inadequate" manner, and the chief minister was "found lacking."

  • In the meantime, the Supreme Court has instructed a petitioner who is asking for the court's help in designating the crisis in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, as a national calamity to mention his case for urgent listing on Tuesday.

  • The construction of the NTPC tunnel and the Char Dham all-weather road, according to locals and the opposition Congress, contributed to the town's worsening soil subsidence issue.


(With Inputs From PTI)