DEHRADUN: The state government has started awarding compensation to people for damaged buildings under the new rehabilitation policy in Joshimath, the gateway town of Badrinath, which is ‘sinking’ due to ‘land submergence’.
On the first day, on Friday, compensation of more than Rs 63 lakh was distributed to the three residents. The Chamoli district administration has started distributing compensation to owners of buildings declared completely damaged by the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) under the new rehabilitation policy.
Speaking to this newspaper, SDM Kumkum Joshi said, “The evaluation and survey work of the buildings was done by the technical team of the Public Works Department and other departments. Based on this, compensation was fixed for damaged buildings. Cheques of compensation amount have been given to three disaster-affected people.”
Reasons behind Joshimath land subsidence may be unplanned construction, over-population, obstruction of natural flow of water.