PM Modi Personally Monitoring Joshimath Situation, Multiple Agencies Roped In For Crisis Response

Amid building damage and land subsidence in Uttarakhand's Joshimath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed concern on the development and reviewed the situation with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

PM Modi had a telephonic conversation with Dhami on Sunday morning and sought information about the steps taken for the safety and rehabilitation of the affected residents and the progress of the immediate and long-term action plan to solve the problem, the Uttarakhand CM said in a tweet.

Dhami said that PM Modi is personally monitoring the situation in Joshimath and the work being carried out by the state government in the region.

He added that PM Modi has also assured all possible help to save Joshimath.

Later in the day, PM Modi's principal secretary P K Mishra held a high-level review of the situation.

Cabinet secretary, home secretary, senior officials of government of India and members of National Disaster Management Authority, chief secretary and DGP of Uttarakhand, DM and officials of Joshimath, senior officers of Uttarakhand; and experts from IIT Roorkee, National Institute of Disaster Management, Geological Survey of India, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology also attended the review through video conferencing, according to a PMO release.

Uttarakhand chief secretary informed that state and district officials with the support of central experts have assessed the situation on ground.

He informed that a strip of land with a width of around 350 meters is affected.

One team of NDRF and four teams of SDRF have reached Joshimath and the district administration is working with the affected families to evacuate and relocate them to safer places with adequate arrangements for food, shelter and security, the PMO release said.

SP and Commandant of SDRF are stationed at the site, it added.

Residents of Joshimath are being informed of the developments and their cooperation is being sought. Advice of experts is being sought to formulate the short-medium-long term plans, the release said.

Further, secretary, border management and all four members of NDMA will visit Uttarakhand on Monday (9 January).

They will undertake a detailed assessment on the findings of the technical teams (NDMA, NIDM, NDRF, GSI, NIH, Wadia Institute, IIT Roorkee) that have just returned from Joshimath and advice state government on immediate, short-medium-long-term actions to address the situation, according to the release.

The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister stressed that the immediate priorities for the state should be the safety of the people living in the affected area.

He also called for immediate efforts to arrest the deterioration in the situation through practical measures that may be feasible.

An inter-disciplinary investigation of the affected area should be undertaken, he suggested.

Experts from a range of central institutions— National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Geological Survey of India (GSI), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) and Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) should work closely with the state of Uttarakhand in the spirit of “Whole of Government” approach, he said.

Fiurther, a clear time-bound reconstruction plan must be prepared and Continuous seismic monitoring must be done.

Using this opportunity, a risk sensitive urban development plan for Joshimath should also be developed, he added.