Joshimath: A day after the demolition of damaged buildings was halted in 'sinking town' of Joshimath due to protests, the Uttarakhand government has begun efforts to resume the drive on Wednesday. The authorities decided on going ahead with the demolition as the last resort to rescue local residents on account of continuing cracks and landslides in the hill station.
Two hotel buildings - Mount View and Malari Inn - were to be demolished on Tuesday on a priority basis. As soon as the administrative officials reached the spot with their team, the hotel owners started opposing the action. Hotel owners said that the financial evaluation of the hotel has not been done. Also they argued that they were not given prior notice. But the officials said demolition could not be started yesterday due to delay in arrival of machinery.
Secretary Disaster Management Dr. Ranjit Sinha said that they need cranes to demolish taller buildings. He said the crane has been called from Dehradun which will reach Joshimath on Wednesday to enable them to resume the demolition drive.
On the other hand, Secretary to Chief Minister, Meenakshi Sundaram said that the CBRI team reached the spot late due to which the process of demolition could not start on the first day. Chief Secretary Dr. SS Sandhu took a meeting of the officials again on Tuesday. The Chief Secretary instructed to demolish the unsafe buildings on priority basis.
The administration had to step back in view of the stiff resistance. T Singh Rana, the owner of Malari Hotel and his family members are sitting outside the hotel demanding compensation.
Also read: Joshimath updates: Demolition drive halted, NCMC says evacuation immediate priority
As per officials, a total of 723 unsafe buildings have been identified in Joshimath which will be demolished on priority. Out of these, 86 buildings have been declared completely unsafe and have been marked red. So far 462 families have been temporarily displaced by the Chamoli district administration. On Tuesday, 381 people were shifted from their homes to safer places in addition to 81 families already shifted.
So far, a total of 344 rooms have been acquired by the administration in various institutions and buildings. Arrangements have been made to accommodate 1,425 people in the buildings. On Tuesday, a Home Ministry team headed by Secretary Border Management reached Joshimath and assessed the situation. Apart from this, teams of central agencies NGRI, NIH, CBRI, NIDM are already camping in Joshimath.
Secretary of Disaster Management Dr. Ranjit Sinha said that IIT Roorkee's team is also being sent to the spot. Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana said that keeping in view the safety of life and property under the Disaster Act, it has been decided to demolish the hotels immediately. The administration has instructed the Energy Corporation to snap power lines in the area vulnerable to landslides.
The connections of 20 unsafe buildings were disconnected on Tuesday. CM Puskhar Singh Dhami has pledged one month's salary to the Relief Fund in view of the Joshimath disaster-in-waiting. The Chief Minister said that the state government stands with the affected people of Joshimath and all possible steps are being taken to provide relief to them.
The amount of the Chief Minister's Relief Fund will be used to help the disaster affected families of Joshimath.
