Centre holds key meet as Joshimath ‘sinking’, experts to study situation; rescue work on

PK Mishra, principal secretary to Prime Minister on Sunday held a high-level review meeting on the Joshimath situation in Uttarakhand.

Mishra was apprised that the central agencies and experts are assisting the statement government to prepare short, medium and long-term plans.

One team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and four teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have already reached Joshimath, where people are in alarm due to land subsidence and cracks have developed in hundreds of houses, news agency PTI reported.

Chief secretary SS Sandhu and director general of police (DGP) Ashok Kumar also participated in the meeting of the PMO through video conferencing, news agency ANI reported.

Affected families are being shifted to safe locations, the report added.

The Border Management secretary and members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will visit Uttarakhand on Monday and assess the situation

A team of experts from NDMA, National Institute of Disaster Management, Geological Survey of India, IIT Roorkee, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Institute of Hydrology and Central Building Research Institute will study the situations and give recommendations, PTI quoted officials as saying.

On Saturday, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited Joshimath to assess the situation on the ground, a day after he directed the immediate evacuation of around 600 affected families.

Dhami said Joshimath is an important place for culture, religion and tourism and all efforts will be made to save it.

Joshimath is the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and the international skiing destination Auli.