The Chamoli district magistrate has presented three options for the displacement and rehabilitation of the people of Joshimath affected by land subsidence. The options were presented in the meeting of the high powered committee chaired by additional chief secretary Anand Bardhan on Monday. Disaster Management secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha informed the media that in the first option, one-time settlement will be done by providing financial assistance to the affected land owners.
As compensation for the damage to the affected land/building, payment will be made for the land/building as per the prescribed standards by making one time settlement. Before making the full payment, the land/building of the affected person will have to be registered in favour of the State government. Under the second option, land up to a maximum area of 100 square metres will be provided to the affected land/building owners for house construction relative to the affected land and compensation will be given for the affected building. In case of more than 100 square metres of land, the affected landowners will be paid for the rest of the land according to the norms. Before making the full payment to the affected land/building owners and before allotting land up to a maximum area of 100 square metres for house construction, the registry of the land/building of the disaster affected person will have to be done in favour of the State government.
Under the third option, a building will be constructed on the land up to the maximum area of 75 square metres at the identified place for the rehabilitation of the affected. If the valuation of the affected residential building/land is more than the land/accommodation being provided, then the remaining amount will be paid to the affected. Before allotting building tax on the land up to the maximum area of 75 square metres relative to the affected land building, the registry of the disaster affected land/building will have to be done in favour of the State government. The committee found these three options suitable and decided to present the same before the State cabinet. Sinha said that residents of which area of Joshimath are to be displaced permanently will become clear only after the final report of the survey being conducted by various technical institutions is received in relation to the disaster affected area in Joshimath. After receiving the report, consent will be obtained from the affected families/persons according to the proposed options. After that a PIU will take action for permanent rehabilitation at the local level. Only after receiving the final report of the technical institutes, a decision will also be taken regarding the works related to mitigation of disaster/stabilisation of the area, toe erosion, drainage plan and other aspects, he said.
The high powered committee also instructed that along with disaster affected families/individuals of Joshimath area, action should be taken to waive electricity/water bills for six months for disaster affected commercial establishments. Students of the three affected schools in the disaster area have been transferred to other schools. Studies have been arranged for the students of Marwadi area in another school located about 12 kilometres away, considering which the committee decided that the district administration should arrange free transportation to transport the children of Marwadi to and from the school. Labourers working in the commercial establishment, whose employment has been affected shall be given financial assistance as given at the time of Covid-19. Separate financial assistance shall be provided after the survey. A high level meeting with the representatives of NTPC, MoRTH and BRO has also been recommended by the committee. The committee has also instructed that a meeting of the inter-departmental coordination and grievance redressal committee headed by the Garhwal commissioner should also be held. A high-level meeting has been recommended by the committee with the Tourism department regarding Auli ropeway. The DM has proposed to give funds for retrofitting of those houses/buildings in the Joshimath area which have small cracks and in case the land is found safe.
Meanwhile, the water discharge in Joshimath which was initially 540 litres per minute (LPM) on January 6 has decreased to 67 LPM at present. There has been no increase in the number of cracked buildings in the area which is 863. An amount of Rs 3.53 crore has been distributed to 235 land owners and Rs 60.50 lakh to 121 tenants. A total of 253 families with 920 members have been temporarily displaced for safety reasons, informed Sinha.
