Relief, rescue operations intensified in Joshimath; PMO reviews situation

Relief and rescue efforts were intensified in Joshimath after it was declared a landslide and subsidence-hit zone, with the Centre on Sunday stressing that the immediate priority is the safety of people and asking experts to prepare short and long term plans for conservation and rehabilitation.

Amid a mounting sense of urgency, senior Uttarakhand government officials including Chief Secretary Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, DGP Ashok Kumar and Secretary to the Chief Minister R Meenakshi Sundaram visited the worst-hit Manohar Bagh, Singdhar and Marwari areas and appealed to people to shift to temporary relief centres.

Officials said 13 more families living in houses with huge cracks were moved by the administration to safe locations on Sunday. The number of families evacuated to temporary relief centres now stands at 68, Chamoli district disaster management office said.

The number of houses developing cracks in the town has risen from 561 to 610, Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar told

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