The demolition of two unsafe hotels in Joshimath started Thursday after all stakeholders agreed to the process, but stopped soon owing to bad weather.
A team of the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) was roped in on Tuesday for the demolition, but the process could not begin after the owner of Malari Inn and some residents held protests. The residents, including the owners of the two hotels (the other hotel is Mount View), had demanded compensation as per the rates listed under the Badrinath Dham redevelopment masterplan.
Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha Thursday said Rs 63 lakh was distributed to 42 families today. On Wednesday, the government said it would give Rs 1.5 lakh as immediate help and compensation to families affected in Joshimath.
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Cracks on the walls of houses at Karnaprayag in Uttarakhand. (Express Photo)
Sinha also said that the CBRI shall provide an assessment report of the demolitions.
“Also it will monitor the accommodations and houses to be demolished and shall also prepare designs of the prefabricated huts for temporary rehabilitation. The team of CBRI has reached Joshimath today and the survey work of the damaged buildings has been started,” he said.
Landslide in the Joshimath of Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Cracks started appearing in the houses due to landslides causing panic spread in the whole city. (PTI Photo)
Sinha said two contingents of NDRF have been deployed in Joshimath and one more contingent is being sent. In addition, 8 companies of SDRF have been deployed in Joshimath. Along with this, helicopters of the Army and ITBP have been deployed at Gauchar to deal with any emergency. A geotechnical study is being carried out by IIT Roorkee, and the Geological Survey of India is conducting a study of the selected land.
Wadia Institute is studying the seismicity of the area and 3 seismic stations have been installed. Apart from this, geophysical exploration of the underground sub-surface survey has been started. A geophysical study of the affected area is being done by the National Geophysical Research Institute, whose hydrological map will also be made available.
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A man shows the cracks that appeared at his house in Joshimath. (PTI)
A team of the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) Hyderabad will also reach Joshimath on Friday to study the underground water channel. The Disaster Management Secretary also said that a committee comprising CBRI, Wadia Institute, GSI, IIRS and NGRI has been constituted for risk assessment.
Sinha said that the discharge of water in Joshimath, which was 540 LPM on January 6, has reduced to 240 LPM at present.
There are a total of 344 rooms identified in Joshimath with a capacity of 1425 people and 491 rooms in Pipalkoti with a capacity of 2205 people as shelters. So far, 73 families have been provided with the relief money (total Rs 3.65 lakh). An amount of Rs 13 lakh has been also distributed to ten affected people for acute or completely damaged buildings.
Sinha said that the number of buildings in which cracks have been noticed are 760. One ward has been declared unsafe in Gandhinagar, two in Singhdhar, five in Manoharbagh, and seven in the Sunil area. A total of 128 buildings are located in an unsafe zone. As of Thursday, 589 people of 145 families have been displaced in view of safety and security.
Joshimath is close to the LAC and is located in the Army’s central sector.
On Thursday, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said about 25-28 buildings have developed minor cracks and the units and jawans posted there have been temporarily relocated. If needed, they can be moved permanently to Auli.
The Army Chief said the BRO is repairing the existing road which had developed minor cracks. Work on an alternate route work has been temporarily put on hold, he said.
“There is no major damage to the main axis going beyond Joshimath and no major impact on our operational readiness,” he said.
