'Sinking' Joshimath: Amit Shah holds key meet; over 25 Army buildings develop cracks

Meanwhile, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said around 25 buildings have developed minor cracks in Joshimath and the soldiers have been temporarily relocated.

New Delhi, Jan 12: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting on Joshimath situation with Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, RK Singh, Bhupendra Yadav and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

As 131 families have been evacuated from their own homes after they developed cracks and were marked "unsafe". All construction works were banned by the Uttarakhand government some time ago, and 723 buildings were identified as being at risk.

Meanwhile, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said around 25 buildings have developed minor cracks in Joshimath and the soldiers have been temporarily relocated.

"25-28 buildings of Army have developed minor cracks and the soldiers have been temporarily relocated. If needed they will be permanently relocated to Auli," Army chief said.

"As far as the bypass road in Joshimath, Uttarakhand is concerned, the work has been temporarily halted. But our accessibility to forward areas and operational readiness has not been affected. We will provide all assistance to the local administration," he said.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami paid a late-night visit to relief camps in the area on Wednesday and interacted with affected people who were brought there. His visit came even as people continued protests demanding compensation ahead of their homes being razed.

On Thursday morning too, he was in Joshimath and interacting with the media, he said, "I have prayed to God to save all from this problem of sinking. We all must believe that our joshimath will come out of this."

An interim assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh is being given to the affected people and details of relief and rehabilitation are being worked out, Dhami said. Compensation will be given in accordance with the market rate, which will be ascertained after taking all the stakeholders into confidence.