'Cracks increasing every hour': Panic grips Joshimath; Auli ropeway service suspended, NDRF on alert

Joshimath: Cracks in hundreds of houses in the Joshimath town of Uttarakhand's Chamoli district have alarmed people. The authorities have started shifting people to safer places and have formed a team of scientists to find out the cause of the cracks. The district administration of Chamoli said cracks have been observed in a total of 561 buildings. So far, 43 families have been relocated. To accommodate the relocated people, the administration has identified 70 rooms, 7 halls, and 1 auditorium.

Joshimath land subsidence: Key updates

-  The operation of the Joshimath-Auli ropeway has been stopped till further orders, the Chief Minister's Office said on Thursday.

- The Joshimath administration has ordered NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) and HCC (Hindustan Construction Company) to make available 4000 pre-fabricated houses.

- The CMO said 43 families from the Joshimath town area have been temporarily shifted to safer places. The SDRF, NDRF, and security forces have been kept on alert.

- Joshimath Municipal President Shailendra Pawar on December 31 said this winter season, the danger of house collapse due to landslides has increased in Joshimath. He said there are 574 houses in the town area, which have developed huge cracks affecting more than 3,000 people.

-  On Thursday, Pawar said the process of increasing cracks had started in Singhdhar and Marwadi. Badrinath National Highway near Singhdhar Jain locality and JP Company Gate in Marwadi, near the forest department check post, was continuously cracking. "This crack is increasing every hour which is worrying," he said while speaking to ANI. 

-  After cracks emerged, a large number of people took out a torchlight protest in Joshimath on Wednesday. People blocked the Badrinath highway in Joshimath on Thursday.

- Physical inspection of houses and land located in Marwadi, Manohar Bagh, and Singhdhar wards was carried out by the Additional District Magistrate and Deputy Superintendent of Police of Chamoli along with a team of geologists, State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF), Fire Service and local police.

- The Uttarakhand government has formed a team of scientists to find out the reason for land subsidence and cracks in the houses in Joshimath. This team will go to the spot and investigate the reason.

- Engineers from the Geological Survey of India, Wadia Institute, and IIT Roorkee have been included in the team formed on the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

(With inputs from agencies)