Top Home Ministry, NDMA officials to visit Uttarakhand to assess Joshimath situation

New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) Top officials from the Union Home Ministry and members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will visit Joshimath town in Uttarakhand on Monday to assess the situation, amid rising concerns of land sinking there.

This was decided after a review meeting was held on Sunday by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) over the land subsidence being faced by the people in Joshimath, raising fears of the town sinking under its own weight.

It was decided in the meeting, which was conducted by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, P.K. Mishra and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, that Secretary, Border Management in the Home Ministry and NDMA members would visit Uttarakhand to assess the situation there.

The PMO further directed that teams of experts from the NDMA, the National Institute of Disaster Management, the Geological Survey of India, the IIT Roorkee, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, the National Institute of Hydrology, and the Central Building Research Institute should study the situation and give their recommendations on the matter immediately.

The Uttarakhand Chief Secretary briefed the PMO from Joshimath through video conferencing, sources said.

It was informed in the meeting that one team of NDRF and four teams of SDRF have already reached Joshimath, and affected families are being shifted to safe locations, sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have spoken to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and offered all assistance in relief and rehabilitation work.