Joshimath landslide: Evacuated families complain of lack of facilities

The affected locals alleged that the administration after shifting them to the camps had left them to fend for themselves in terms of food and heating arrangements.

Joshimath: The residents evacuated due to the sinking of land in Uttarakhand' Joshimath expressed their resentment at the “mismanagement” of the administration with many of them spending the first night without food and heating arrangements, they said. Hundreds of residents in Joshimath town have been evacuated after cracks appeared in around 600 houses due to the subsiding of the hilly area.

Talking to ETV Bharat correspondent Laxman Rana, the affected residents putting up at the relief camps set up by the Pushkar Singh Dhami-led BJP government alleged that the administration had left them to fend for themselves after shifting them to the camps. The affected families currently staying in the municipal night shelter, Gurdwara, and the primary school of Singhdhar ward mostly complained about the lack of quality food and heating facilities amid the bone-chilling winter cold.

“Nothing has been done for the families by the administration. Even the arrangements for food were made by the disaster-affected families themselves, who have reached the relief camp with small children,” one of the affected locals alleged. They further said that the administration was also giving them a cold shoulder over the heating arrangements.

The families put up at the camps said that despite the bitter cold, the administration could not even arrange heaters for them. “The administration provided food for one time while we spent the night eating Maggi,” a local said. The disaster-affected people urged the administration to build houses for them as their houses were no longer habitable.

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, who chaired a high-level meeting over the matter on Friday, has instructed the officials in the meeting to first shift the affected people to safer places. The State government officials, along with a team of experts, are monitoring the situation in Joshimath. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was scheduled to visit Joshimath on Saturday to take stock of the situation.

The Dhami government also pledged to provide Rs 4,000 monthly financial assistance to the families till their rehabilitation. The teams of NDRF and SDRF have also reached the town and are taking stock of the situation and meeting any eventuality. A state Disaster Control Room has also been set up on the orders of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Given the landslides in Joshimath, the work inside the tunnel of the NTPC power project has been completely stopped. The district administration has also banned Helang bypass construction work under BRO, construction work under NTPC's Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project and construction work under the municipal area with immediate effect till further orders.