The high-level central committee, under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, approved the recovery and reconstruction (R&R) plan worth ₹1,658.17 crore for Joshimath which has been affected by landslide and ground subsidence.
In this R&R plan, the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) will provide ₹1079.96 crore of central assistance from the Recovery and Reconstruction window. The Uttarakhand government will provide ₹126.41 crore and ₹451.80 crore from its State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and state budget, respectively.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has planned to implement a recovery plan for Joshimath over a period of three years using Build-Back-Better (BBB) principles, sustainability initiatives, and other practices.
The MHA said that the central government had put all the technical agencies under the guidance of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to help the state government lay out a recovery plan for Joshimath.
The land in Uttarakhand's Joshimath sank 5.4 cm in the 12 days from December 27, 2022, to January 8, 2023. Residents witnessed cracks in homes and other structures that made it risky for them to live in. The town went from sinking approximately 9 cm over a period of seven months to around 5 cm in 12 days.
The Chamoli district administration had declared Joshimath a land-subsidence zone after over 700 houses developed cracks that forced families to relocate, leaving behind their "dangerous" residences. Several roads, hotels, homestays and hospitals were also affected.
Why did Joshimath witness land subsidence?
While locals blamed the rapid construction drive in the region for the problem—being done to attract tourists and pilgrims as the town falls en route to Badrinath and the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib treks—experts say it is because of land 'sinking' or land subsidence that has induced the structural damage and defects.
Land subsidence is when the earth's surface gradually settles or suddenly sinks because of the displacement or removal of subsurface materials. Due to this, several pockets of the town are "sinking" as a result of natural and man-made factors, according to a state government-appointed expert committee entrusted to study the phenomenon.
Joshimath falls in a high-risk seismic 'Zone V'. Civic officials have said the town is prone to high seismic activity, which develops cracks in the structures.
Since the first reports of the cracks in 2021 after landslides in Chamoli, over 500 houses have sustained damage or cracks as residents experienced seismic tremors repeatedly in the subsequent years.
(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)
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