Joshimath: At the behest of state cabinet minister, ISRO removes satellite images and report
JOSHIMATH: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has removed the satellite images of the land submergence and the report claiming that Joshimath was submerged within a day, following objections from the state government. Speaking to The New Indian Express, state Cabinet Minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat, who is camping in Joshimath to monitor and assess the situation, confirmed this after contacting ISRO officials.
Meanwhile, the Centre has issued strict instructions prohibiting scientists, geologists and other concerned officials from sharing any kind of Joshimath land submergence report with the media.
In fact, this report of ISRO said that in the last 12 days i.e. from 27 December2022 to 8 January 2023, there was a 5.4 cm landslide in Joshimath. ISRO had also said that in the last seven months, the landslide in Joshimath was 9 cm.
Minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat said, "There was panic among the people of Joshimath city after ISRO pictures related to the submergence of Joshimath went viral and news related to it was broadcast on TV channels, when this happened, they spoke to the ISRO director over phone" "I requested him to either issue an official statement regarding the photographs or remove the photographs from the website if there is nothing like that", added Minister Dr Dhan Singh.
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Secretary Disaster Management Dr. Ranjit Kumar Sinha, while giving information about the relief and rescue related works being done to the media on Saturday, said "An amount of Rs 187.50 lakh has been distributed by the state government as advance for displacement per family. It has been proposed by CBRI,
Government of India to design and construct pre-fab huts for the affected people on their other protected land".
The disaster management team will again visit Joshimath on Sunday, during which Additional Secretary (Disaster), Geologist and Central officials will also be present.