Chamoli District Magistrate submits settlement plan for Joshimath

Dehradun: Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana has suggested three options for the settlement of the displaced people in land subsidence-hit Joshimath, officials said. Khurana, who heads a committee working on a settlement plan for Joshimath, submitted his recommendations to a high-powered panel chaired by Additional Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan here. The first option offers one time settlement by providing financial assistance to the affected land/building owners, Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha said at a press conference here on Monday. They will be paid compensation as one time settlement for their damaged land or buildings as per the prescribed norms, he said.

However, before they are paid fully, the land/building of the affected person will have to be registered in favour of the state government, he said. 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 and compensation 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 an area of 100 square metres for house construction, the registry of the land/building of the affected person will have to be done in favour of the state government, the officials said. Under the third option, a building will be constructed on 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 displaced. In this option too, the registry of the disaster affected land/building will have to be done in favour of the state government.

The three options proposed by the Chamoli DM have been found to be suitable and will now be presented before the state cabinet for its consideration and approval, the disaster management secretary said. The DM has proposed to give funds for retrofitting of houses/buildings which have small cracks and are located on "safe" land. The number of affected families which need to be permanently relocated will be decided after various technical institutions submit their survey reports to the government, Sinha said. A decision will also be taken regarding the work related to mitigation of disaster/stabilisation of the area, toe erosion, drainage plan when the final report of the technical institutes conducting their studies are received.

Instructions were also given by the high powered committee that along with affected families/individuals of Joshimath area, action should be taken to waive electricity/water bills for six months for affected commercial establishments. Sinha said students of three schools hit by subsidence in Joshimath have been transferred to other schools and will be provided free transportation by the administration. The water discharge from an unknown source in the JP Colony area has lowered further to 67 litres per minute (LPM) and the number of houses that developed cracks still stands at 863, he said.