NCMC meets on Joshimath, says immediate priority is complete evacuation | Top points

The administration prepared on Tuesday to demolish two precariously standing hotels in subsidence-hit Joshimath in Uttarakhand but faced protests from their owners and locals on the issue of compensation, while more families were evacuated from the danger zone as the number of affected houses rose to over 700. 

Hotels Malari Inn and Mount View were leaning towards each other dangerously, posing a threat to human settlements around them and the Uttarakhand government had on Monday directed the razing of unstable structures, starting with these two buildings. State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) personnel along with JCBs and workers reached the site and announcements were made through loud hailers asking people to keep their distance from the two hotels. The area was barricaded and power lines in the area were cut off on Tuesday.

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) on Tuesday reviewed the situation in Joshimath where cracks have appeared in buildings and other structures and stressed that the immediate priority should be to ensure the complete and safe evacuation of all residents in the affected zone. At a meeting of the NCMC, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba stressed that priority should also be accorded to the demolition of vulnerable structures in a safe manner, an official statement said. The NCMC conveyed that all studies and investigations, including geotechnical, geophysical and hydrological, should be completed in a coordinated and time-bound manner.

The demolition of Hotel Malari Inn which has been declared 'unsafe' stopped due to protest by locals.

"I am not protesting against the demolition of the hotel building but I'm demanding fair compensation from the government," said Thakur Singh Rana, hotel owner.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused urgent hearing of a plea seeking the court’s intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand's Joshimath a national disaster, saying there are “democratically elected institutions” to deal with the situation and all important matters should not come to it. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha listed the plea of Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Joshimath for hearing on January 16.

Advocate Parmeshwar Nath Mishra, appearing for the Swami, mentioned the plea and sought its urgent listing for Wednesday. “Everything important need not come to us. There are democratically elected institutions to look into it. We will list it on January 16,” the CJI said. The lawyer had mentioned the plea also on Monday for urgent listing. "Mention again on Tuesday after following the due process when your matter is in the mentioning list," the bench had said.

The Centre on Tuesday announced that it will install micro seismic observation systems at Joshimath--the gradually sinking Himalayan town in Uttarakhand. Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh made the announcement at the India-UK Workshop of Geosciences here and said the observation systems will be in place by Wednesday. Addressing the workshop, he said there was a critical need for fundamental research on the physical processes that lead to failure of the brittle layers beneath the crust and sub-crust. The minister noted that human consequences of natural disasters in India were rising rapidly and stressed on the need to devise proper mitigation strategies. Singh said the Ministry of Earth Sciences had established 37 new seismological centres in the last two years for extensive observation facilities, generating a huge database for outcome-oriented analytics. He said in the next five years, 100 more such seismological centres will be opened across the country for improving real time data monitoring and data collection. Officials said seismic microzonation study for the area would generate risk resilient parameters for safer dwellings and infrastructure.

As the Uttarakhand government prepared to demolish two hotels badly affected by land subsidence in Joshimath, the hotel owners opposed the "abrupt" move, saying they had no prior information about it.

The state government had on Monday, decided to mechanically demolish 'Mount View' and 'Malari Inn' hotels that developed huge cracks recently and were leaning towards each other, posing a risk to the nearby settlements.

Ranjit Sinha, Secretary, Disaster Management told reporters that the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee has been roped in for the demolition exercise.

The devastated hotel owners said they came to know about the development through newspapers and demanded that a one-time settlement plan should have been offered to them before the decision was made.

"I came to know about it through newspapers this morning. There was no prior notice. If the government demarcated my hotel as unsafe, it should have first come up with a one-time settlement plan before deciding to demolish it," Thakur Singh, who owns Malari Inn, said.

Of the two hotels, Malari Inn will be demolished in a step-wise manner on Tuesday. First of all, the top portion will be demolished. It is being done because both the hotels have tilted and have come very close to each other due to the sinking, Manikant Mishra, Commandant, SDRF said.

The demolition is essential because there are several houses and hotels around, if these two sink any further then other structures may also collapse. So, the experts have decided to demolish them. CBRI experts are coming, they conducted a survey yesterday and now they'll give more technical information on the same, Mishra said.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt has reached Uttarakhand's affected town Joshimath. Discussions are being held with the administrative officials at the Army base regarding the situation in the sinking town.

The central team of officials also said a geological survey of the areas identified for the rehabilitation of the affected people should be carried out.

Meanwhile, the state government is also working on designing a relief package for the people of the disaster-hit town, which will soon be sent to the Centre.

Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Disaster Management Authority met Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to assess the situation in Joshimath and underlined the need for ascertaining the location of underground water accumulation in the subsidence zone.

Water accumulation under the ground in the affected area is considered to be in Joshimath but the source of the water is yet to be ascertained.

The number of subsidence-affected homes rose to 678 while 27 more families were evacuated to safety, a bulletin from the Disaster Management Authority in Chamoli said, adding so far 82 families have been shifted to safe locations in the town.

Under the Joshimath city area, 213 rooms have been temporarily identified as habitable, with their capacities estimated at 1191. In addition to this, 491 rooms/halls have been identified in Pipalkoti outside the Joshimath area, with a combined capacity of 2205.

Every minute is important, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary said as more houses, buildings and roads developed cracks in the sinking town of Joshimath. Red crosses have come upon hundreds of unsafe structures and many residents stayed on despite the imminent danger.

Reports said that the demolition of the buildings will take place under the supervision of a team of experts from the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee. Meanwhile, other disaster management teams including NDRF have been put on standby to assist the district administration.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on January 16 a plea seeking the court’s intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand's Joshimath as a national disaster.

Several buildings including hotels and houses in the sinking town of Joshimath have been marked with cross signs and declared unsafe. According to reports, the town authorities will be demolishing two hotels first as they have developed huge cracks due to landslides and subsidence.