Tag: sinking town

  • Satellite images show Joshimath sank by 5.4 cm in 12 days; ISRO warns entire town may sink

    By Online Desk

    JOSHIMATH: Uttarakhand’s Joshimath town sank by 5.4 cm in just 12 days between December 27, 2022, and January 8, 2023, triggered by a possible subsidence event on January 2, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellite-based report. This is a case of rapid subsistence, it said adding that the area of the subsidence too has increased. However, it is confined to the central part of Joshimath town.

    ISRO’s preliminary report released Thursday shows that the entire town may sink.

    Joshimath is the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and the international skiing destination Auli.

    Meanwhile, slow land subsidence up to 9 cm was recorded in Joshimath town over a period of seven months, between April and November 2022.

    The Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre has released satellite images of areas that are sinking. The pictures are taken from the Cartosat-2S satellite.

    WEB SCRAWL | How green was my valley: The Himalayan loot that triggered the Joshimath disaster

    In the images, the entire town, including the Army’s helipad and the Narasimha temple, has been marked as a sensitive zone. 

    Due to a landslide-related creep, cracks have appeared in around 700 houses in the town. Roads along with the hotels and hospitals present there have developed cracks, said NRSC.

    A subsidence zone resembling a generic landslide shape was identified (tapered top and fanning out at base), ISRO said in its report. The ‘Crown’ of the subsidence is located near Joshimath-Auli road at a height of 2,180 metres, it said. 

    The satellite images show that the Joshimath-Auli road is also going to collapse.

    Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is holding an emergency meeting Friday to discuss several important issues, including compensation, in view of the land subsidence crisis in Joshimath.

    Ministers, and top officials including Chief Secretary Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were present in the meeting, which began at 12 noon in the Secretariat here.

    OPINION | Joshimath disaster a result of deliberate negligence

    Dhami had emphasised that surveys of other areas should also be conducted in the state by a committee of experts. The committee would survey the villages and towns located in the hilly areas to ascertain whether the area has more buildings and people than capacity.

    A total of 169 families consisting of 589 members have so far been shifted to relief centres. There are 835 rooms serving as relief centres in Joshimath and Pipalkoti which can together accommodate 3,630 people.

    An interim assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh has been paid so far to 42 affected families. CM Dhami on Thursday had said a committee would decide the market rate for compensation to be paid to the families affected in Joshimath by keeping in mind the interests of stakeholders.

    (With inputs from PTI, ANI, IANS)

    JOSHIMATH: Uttarakhand’s Joshimath town sank by 5.4 cm in just 12 days between December 27, 2022, and January 8, 2023, triggered by a possible subsidence event on January 2, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellite-based report. This is a case of rapid subsistence, it said adding that the area of the subsidence too has increased. However, it is confined to the central part of Joshimath town.

    ISRO’s preliminary report released Thursday shows that the entire town may sink.

    Joshimath is the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and the international skiing destination Auli.

    Meanwhile, slow land subsidence up to 9 cm was recorded in Joshimath town over a period of seven months, between April and November 2022.

    The Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre has released satellite images of areas that are sinking. The pictures are taken from the Cartosat-2S satellite.

    WEB SCRAWL | How green was my valley: The Himalayan loot that triggered the Joshimath disaster

    In the images, the entire town, including the Army’s helipad and the Narasimha temple, has been marked as a sensitive zone. 

    Due to a landslide-related creep, cracks have appeared in around 700 houses in the town. Roads along with the hotels and hospitals present there have developed cracks, said NRSC.

    A subsidence zone resembling a generic landslide shape was identified (tapered top and fanning out at base), ISRO said in its report. The ‘Crown’ of the subsidence is located near Joshimath-Auli road at a height of 2,180 metres, it said. 

    The satellite images show that the Joshimath-Auli road is also going to collapse.

    Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is holding an emergency meeting Friday to discuss several important issues, including compensation, in view of the land subsidence crisis in Joshimath.

    Ministers, and top officials including Chief Secretary Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were present in the meeting, which began at 12 noon in the Secretariat here.

    OPINION | Joshimath disaster a result of deliberate negligence

    Dhami had emphasised that surveys of other areas should also be conducted in the state by a committee of experts. The committee would survey the villages and towns located in the hilly areas to ascertain whether the area has more buildings and people than capacity.

    A total of 169 families consisting of 589 members have so far been shifted to relief centres. There are 835 rooms serving as relief centres in Joshimath and Pipalkoti which can together accommodate 3,630 people.

    An interim assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh has been paid so far to 42 affected families. CM Dhami on Thursday had said a committee would decide the market rate for compensation to be paid to the families affected in Joshimath by keeping in mind the interests of stakeholders.

    (With inputs from PTI, ANI, IANS)

  • Detailed zonation study of Joshimath dangers was sent to govt in 2001: Environmentalist

    'One study after another would not help until the governments begin to act on what they were recommended', Chandi Prasad Bhatt, whose request led NRSA to do zonation mapping, said.

  • PMO holds high-level meet on Joshimath crisis; relief, rescue operations intensified

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI/DEHRADUN: 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 PTI.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and reviewed the situation, including the steps taken so far for the safety and rehabilitation of residents, and assured him of necessary assistance.

    The Uttarakhand chief secretary has said that state and district officials with the support of central experts have assessed the situation on the ground and informed that a strip of land with a width of around 350 metres is affected, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday after holding a high-level review meeting.

    ALSO READ | Joshimath sinking: Plea in SC seeks to declare land subsidence as national disaster

    Central government agencies and experts are assisting Uttarakhand to prepare plans to deal with the Joshimath situation and the immediate priority is the safety of the people, it said.

    Affected families are being shifted to safe locations, a PMO statement said, noting that Prime Minister Modi is concerned and has taken stock of the situation with Chief Minister Dhami.

    One team of the National Disaster Response Force and four teams of the State Disaster Response Force have already reached Joshimath.

    P K Mishra, the prime minister’s principal secretary who held the meeting, stressed that the immediate priority should be the safety of people living in the affected area and said the state government should establish a clear and continuous communication channel with the residents.

    WATCH | 

    The Border Management secretary and members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will visit Uttarakhand on Monday and assess the situation A team of experts from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Institute of Disaster Management, Geological Survey of India, IIT Roorkee, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Institute of Hydrology and Central Building Research Institute will study the situations and give recommendations, the PMO said.

    The Uttarakhand chief secretary briefed the PMO about the ground situation during the meeting, officials said.

    Central government agencies and experts are assisting Uttarakhand to prepare short, medium and long-term plans to deal with the Joshimath situation, they added.

    “Immediate efforts should be made to arrest the deterioration in the situation through practical measures that may be feasible,” Mishra said.

    He said an interdisciplinary investigation of the affected area should be undertaken.

    Experts from a range of central institutions- NDMA, NIDM, Geological Survey of India, IIT Roorkee, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Institute of Hydrology and Central Building Research Institute should work closely with Uttarakhand in the spirit of “Whole of Government” approach.

    IN PHOTOS | Joshimath crisis: The sinking town in Uttarakhand

    A clear time-bound reconstruction plan must be prepared and continuous seismic monitoring must be done, he said, adding that a risk-sensitive urban development plan for Joshimath should also be developed.

    The review meeting was attended by the cabinet secretary, other senior officials of the central government and members of the NDMA besides the chief secretary and the DGP of the state through video conference.

    District officials of Joshimath also attended the meeting.

    Experts from IIT Roorkee, the Geological Survey of India and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology also participated.

    Dhami had visited Joshimath on Saturday to assess the situation on the ground, a day after he directed the immediate evacuation of around 600 affected families.

    Giving details of the relief and rescue efforts, Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana said 229 rooms with capacity to accommodate 1,271 people have been identified at different locations within the town.

    Ration kits were distributed to affected families besides an ex gratia of Rs 2.30 lakh among 46 of them at the rate of Rs 5,000 per family for buying essential household items.

    DM Khurana went door-to-door requesting people living in damaged houses to vacate them and move to temporary relief centres.

    Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Sukhbir Singh Sandhu during his visit to the town made a similar appeal to people: “You should take no risks. The safety of residents is an immediate priority and the district administration is working continuously to ensure that”.

    Geological experts are exploring the causes of land subsidence.

    Based on their recommendations whatever treatment is needed will be done in Joshimath, the CS said.

    Considering the extent of damage at least 82 more families will have to be evacuated to temporary relief centres as soon as possible, Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar told PTI.

    Kumar heads a committee tasked with monitoring the situation on the ground level and has been camping in Joshimath since Thursday.

    There are a total of 4,500 buildings in Joshimath out of which 610 have developed huge cracks and are unfit for habitation, he said, adding that a survey is still underway and the number of affected buildings might go up.

    “Land subsidence has been going on slowly in Joshimath for quite sometime but it has increased over the past one week with huge cracks appearing in houses, fields and roads,” the Garhwal Commissioner said.

    “The situation worsened apparently after a water channel beneath the town erupted last week,” he said.

    Chief Minister Dhami who visited the affected areas in Joshimath on Saturday held a meeting with officials in Dehradun on his return and asked them to relax the norms to expedite relief operations.

    They were asked not to get entangled in long procedural complexities and take direct clearance from him for works related to treatment of drainage and sewage systems in Joshimath, he said.

    ALSO READ | Anthropogenic, natural factors responsible for Joshimath’s vulnerable foundations: Expert

    The National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun have been asked to conduct a study of the Joshimath area through satellite imagery and submit a detailed report with photographs.

    A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the Centre to constitute a committee headed by a retired judge to look into the issue of sinking of Joshimath and rehabilitate the affected families.

    Earlier, a seer had moved the Supreme Court seeking that the Joshimath crisis be declared a national disaster.

    Experts have claimed that the land subsidence in Joshimath is primarily due to the National Thermal Power Corporation’s Tapovan Vishnugad Hydro Power Project and is a very grave reminder that people are messing up with the environment to an extent that is irreversible.

    NEW DELHI/DEHRADUN: 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 PTI.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and reviewed the situation, including the steps taken so far for the safety and rehabilitation of residents, and assured him of necessary assistance.

    The Uttarakhand chief secretary has said that state and district officials with the support of central experts have assessed the situation on the ground and informed that a strip of land with a width of around 350 metres is affected, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday after holding a high-level review meeting.

    ALSO READ | Joshimath sinking: Plea in SC seeks to declare land subsidence as national disaster

    Central government agencies and experts are assisting Uttarakhand to prepare plans to deal with the Joshimath situation and the immediate priority is the safety of the people, it said.

    Affected families are being shifted to safe locations, a PMO statement said, noting that Prime Minister Modi is concerned and has taken stock of the situation with Chief Minister Dhami.

    One team of the National Disaster Response Force and four teams of the State Disaster Response Force have already reached Joshimath.

    P K Mishra, the prime minister’s principal secretary who held the meeting, stressed that the immediate priority should be the safety of people living in the affected area and said the state government should establish a clear and continuous communication channel with the residents.

    WATCH | 

    The Border Management secretary and members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will visit Uttarakhand on Monday and assess the situation A team of experts from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Institute of Disaster Management, Geological Survey of India, IIT Roorkee, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Institute of Hydrology and Central Building Research Institute will study the situations and give recommendations, the PMO said.

    The Uttarakhand chief secretary briefed the PMO about the ground situation during the meeting, officials said.

    Central government agencies and experts are assisting Uttarakhand to prepare short, medium and long-term plans to deal with the Joshimath situation, they added.

    “Immediate efforts should be made to arrest the deterioration in the situation through practical measures that may be feasible,” Mishra said.

    He said an interdisciplinary investigation of the affected area should be undertaken.

    Experts from a range of central institutions- NDMA, NIDM, Geological Survey of India, IIT Roorkee, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Institute of Hydrology and Central Building Research Institute should work closely with Uttarakhand in the spirit of “Whole of Government” approach.

    IN PHOTOS | Joshimath crisis: The sinking town in Uttarakhand

    A clear time-bound reconstruction plan must be prepared and continuous seismic monitoring must be done, he said, adding that a risk-sensitive urban development plan for Joshimath should also be developed.

    The review meeting was attended by the cabinet secretary, other senior officials of the central government and members of the NDMA besides the chief secretary and the DGP of the state through video conference.

    District officials of Joshimath also attended the meeting.

    Experts from IIT Roorkee, the Geological Survey of India and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology also participated.

    Dhami had visited Joshimath on Saturday to assess the situation on the ground, a day after he directed the immediate evacuation of around 600 affected families.

    Giving details of the relief and rescue efforts, Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana said 229 rooms with capacity to accommodate 1,271 people have been identified at different locations within the town.

    Ration kits were distributed to affected families besides an ex gratia of Rs 2.30 lakh among 46 of them at the rate of Rs 5,000 per family for buying essential household items.

    DM Khurana went door-to-door requesting people living in damaged houses to vacate them and move to temporary relief centres.

    Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Sukhbir Singh Sandhu during his visit to the town made a similar appeal to people: “You should take no risks. The safety of residents is an immediate priority and the district administration is working continuously to ensure that”.

    Geological experts are exploring the causes of land subsidence.

    Based on their recommendations whatever treatment is needed will be done in Joshimath, the CS said.

    Considering the extent of damage at least 82 more families will have to be evacuated to temporary relief centres as soon as possible, Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar told PTI.

    Kumar heads a committee tasked with monitoring the situation on the ground level and has been camping in Joshimath since Thursday.

    There are a total of 4,500 buildings in Joshimath out of which 610 have developed huge cracks and are unfit for habitation, he said, adding that a survey is still underway and the number of affected buildings might go up.

    “Land subsidence has been going on slowly in Joshimath for quite sometime but it has increased over the past one week with huge cracks appearing in houses, fields and roads,” the Garhwal Commissioner said.

    “The situation worsened apparently after a water channel beneath the town erupted last week,” he said.

    Chief Minister Dhami who visited the affected areas in Joshimath on Saturday held a meeting with officials in Dehradun on his return and asked them to relax the norms to expedite relief operations.

    They were asked not to get entangled in long procedural complexities and take direct clearance from him for works related to treatment of drainage and sewage systems in Joshimath, he said.

    ALSO READ | Anthropogenic, natural factors responsible for Joshimath’s vulnerable foundations: Expert

    The National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun have been asked to conduct a study of the Joshimath area through satellite imagery and submit a detailed report with photographs.

    A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the Centre to constitute a committee headed by a retired judge to look into the issue of sinking of Joshimath and rehabilitate the affected families.

    Earlier, a seer had moved the Supreme Court seeking that the Joshimath crisis be declared a national disaster.

    Experts have claimed that the land subsidence in Joshimath is primarily due to the National Thermal Power Corporation’s Tapovan Vishnugad Hydro Power Project and is a very grave reminder that people are messing up with the environment to an extent that is irreversible.

  • Sinking town: Uttarakhand’s Joshimath declared landslide-subsidence zone, over 60 families evacuated

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: Joshimath has been declared a landslide-subsidence zone and over 60 families living in damaged houses in the sinking town have been evacuated to temporary relief centres, a senior official said on Sunday.

    At least 90 more families have to be evacuated.

    The local administration has set up relief centres at four-five places in the Himalayan town, Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar said.

    Meanwhile, Chamoli District Magistrate (DM) Himanshu Khurana went from door to door in the affected area to assess the extent of damage and appealed to people living in houses that have developed cracks to move to the relief centres.

    Joshimath has been declared a landslide-subsidence zone.

    More than 60 families living in uninhabitable houses have been evacuated to temporary relief centres, Kumar told PTI.

    Considering the extent of the damage, at least 90 more families will have to be evacuated as soon as possible, he said.

    Kumar, who has been camping in Joshimath since Thursday, heads a committee tasked with monitoring the situation on the ground level.

    There are a total of 4,500 buildings in Joshimath and 610 of these have developed huge cracks, making them unfit for habitation, he said.

    A survey is underway and the number of affected buildings could go up, he added.

    Kumar said the affected area, including houses that developed cracks earlier and the ones damaged recently, forms a big arch which could be spread over 1.5 km.

    Temporary relief centres have been set up at four-five safe places within Joshimath.

    READ HERE | Anthropogenic, natural factors responsible for Joshimath’s vulnerable foundations: Expert

    Some more buildings, including a few hotels, a gurdwara and two inter-colleges, have been acquired to serve as makeshift shelters that can accommodate around 1,500 people, he said.

    “Land subsidence has been going on slowly in Joshimath for quite some time but it has increased over the past week with huge cracks appearing in houses, fields and roads,” the Garhwal commissioner said.

    “The situation worsened apparently after a water channel beneath the town erupted last week,” he said.

    The priority at present is evacuating the affected people to safety, he said.

    Kumar said long-term measures being explored to deal with the situation range from reconstruction to retrofitting.

    Chamoli DM Khurana surveyed the affected area.

    People were told to move out of unsafe and uninhabitable houses as arrangements for their stay have been made in hotels, homestays and other safe places, he said.

    The state government will pay Rs 4,000 per month for up to six months to those who want to move to rented accommodations, he said, asking people not to risk their lives by choosing to continue living in the damaged houses.

    Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who visited the affected areas in Joshimath on Saturday, held a meeting with officials here after returning and asked them to relax norms to expedite relief operations.

    He said they were asked not to get entangled in long procedural complexities and take direct clearance from him for work related to drainage treatment and sewage systems in Joshimath.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Dhami over the phone to take stock of the situation in Joshimath, officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.

    The PM sought updates on land subsidence in the town and the steps taken so far for the safety and rehabilitation of residents, they said.

    READ HERE | Uttarakhand: After Joshimath, cracks found in more than 50 houses in Karnaprayag

    They added that the PM is personally keeping a tab on the situation in Joshimath — known as the gateway to Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib and famous skiing destination Auli.

    The National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun have been asked to conduct a study of Joshimath through satellite imagery and submit a detailed report with photographs.

    The Geological Survey of India has also been asked to examine the suitability of Koti Farm, Herb Institute and the Horticulture Department’s land in Joshimath and in Pipalkoti’s Semaldala area for rehabilitation purposes.

    DEHRADUN: Joshimath has been declared a landslide-subsidence zone and over 60 families living in damaged houses in the sinking town have been evacuated to temporary relief centres, a senior official said on Sunday.

    At least 90 more families have to be evacuated.

    The local administration has set up relief centres at four-five places in the Himalayan town, Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar said.

    Meanwhile, Chamoli District Magistrate (DM) Himanshu Khurana went from door to door in the affected area to assess the extent of damage and appealed to people living in houses that have developed cracks to move to the relief centres.

    Joshimath has been declared a landslide-subsidence zone.

    More than 60 families living in uninhabitable houses have been evacuated to temporary relief centres, Kumar told PTI.

    Considering the extent of the damage, at least 90 more families will have to be evacuated as soon as possible, he said.

    Kumar, who has been camping in Joshimath since Thursday, heads a committee tasked with monitoring the situation on the ground level.

    There are a total of 4,500 buildings in Joshimath and 610 of these have developed huge cracks, making them unfit for habitation, he said.

    A survey is underway and the number of affected buildings could go up, he added.

    Kumar said the affected area, including houses that developed cracks earlier and the ones damaged recently, forms a big arch which could be spread over 1.5 km.

    Temporary relief centres have been set up at four-five safe places within Joshimath.

    READ HERE | Anthropogenic, natural factors responsible for Joshimath’s vulnerable foundations: Expert

    Some more buildings, including a few hotels, a gurdwara and two inter-colleges, have been acquired to serve as makeshift shelters that can accommodate around 1,500 people, he said.

    “Land subsidence has been going on slowly in Joshimath for quite some time but it has increased over the past week with huge cracks appearing in houses, fields and roads,” the Garhwal commissioner said.

    “The situation worsened apparently after a water channel beneath the town erupted last week,” he said.

    The priority at present is evacuating the affected people to safety, he said.

    Kumar said long-term measures being explored to deal with the situation range from reconstruction to retrofitting.

    Chamoli DM Khurana surveyed the affected area.

    People were told to move out of unsafe and uninhabitable houses as arrangements for their stay have been made in hotels, homestays and other safe places, he said.

    The state government will pay Rs 4,000 per month for up to six months to those who want to move to rented accommodations, he said, asking people not to risk their lives by choosing to continue living in the damaged houses.

    Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who visited the affected areas in Joshimath on Saturday, held a meeting with officials here after returning and asked them to relax norms to expedite relief operations.

    He said they were asked not to get entangled in long procedural complexities and take direct clearance from him for work related to drainage treatment and sewage systems in Joshimath.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Dhami over the phone to take stock of the situation in Joshimath, officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.

    The PM sought updates on land subsidence in the town and the steps taken so far for the safety and rehabilitation of residents, they said.

    READ HERE | Uttarakhand: After Joshimath, cracks found in more than 50 houses in Karnaprayag

    They added that the PM is personally keeping a tab on the situation in Joshimath — known as the gateway to Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib and famous skiing destination Auli.

    The National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun have been asked to conduct a study of Joshimath through satellite imagery and submit a detailed report with photographs.

    The Geological Survey of India has also been asked to examine the suitability of Koti Farm, Herb Institute and the Horticulture Department’s land in Joshimath and in Pipalkoti’s Semaldala area for rehabilitation purposes.