‘Would prefer dying’: Residents reluctant to leave ‘sinking’ Joshimath

TIL Desk/National/Joshimath/ As many residents remain reluctant to leave their homes that have been declared unsafe due to land subsidence in Joshimath, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary SS Sandhu on Monday stressed that every minute is important and directed immediate evacuation of people from the affected zone.

The district administration had put red cross marks on more than 200 houses in the sinking town that are unsafe for living. It asked their occupants to either shift to the temporary relief centres or rented accommodation for which each family will get assistance of Rs 4000 per month for the next six months from the state government.

Cracks appeared in 68 more houses on Monday taking the number of subsidence affected homes to 678 while 27 more families were evacuated to safety, a bulletin from the Disaster Management Authority Chamoli said. So far 82 families have been shifted to safe locations in the town, it said.

Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force have been deployed for the relief and rescue efforts. Sandhu held a meeting with officials at the state secretariat to review the situation in Joshimath and asked them to speed up the evacuation exercise to ensure the safety of residents.