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'Land subsidence affected only an area': Official amid fears linked to Joshimath
Joshimath sinking: Thousands of locals are living in fear.
With over 500 houses in Uttarakhand's Joshimath having developed cracks, the state government has swung into action to help locals move to safety. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has held two high-level meetings since Friday and he visited the town to meet the affected families and assure them of the state's action in the matter. As he stressed that the government's top priority at the time remains to save lives, he also pointed out that multi-institutional experts and scientists - from across the country - are studying the land subsidence in Joshimath town to suggest measures and find out the reasons behind the developments, HT reported.
Meanwhile, while authorities are on job to help residents, an official said that only a part of the Joshimath town has been affected by land subsidence. "The problem of land subsidence is only in a particular area of Joshimath, not the entire town. This is the reason we are able to resettle the affected people in hotels or homestays. in safer areas of the town," Himanshu Khurana, District Magistrate of Chamoli, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Friday, Chief Minister Dhami had ordered some urgent steps in view of the situation. He also instructed urgent evacuations from danger zones. While speaking to reporters on Saturday, after a review in the town, he said: "It is too early to say what caused the land subsidence."
"Our experts, geoscientists, different agencies and ministries of the state and central governments, including IIT Roorkee, are constantly assessing the situation and looking into the reasons for subsidence. Talks are on with ISRO as well. It would be too early to say what caused this," he further added.
Some analysts are of the view that unplanned construction and extreme weather events may have been behind the subsidence.
(With inputs from ANI)
