New Delhi, Jan 10, 2023, IANS

New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a plea on January 16, seeking its intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand's Joshimath as a national disaster.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud declined to list the plea for urgent hearing saying that everything important should not come to it directly.

The bench, also comprising Justice P.S. Narasimha said, "There are democratically elected institutions to look into it..."

The bench told petitioner's counsel that everything important should not come to us and added that it will list it on January 16.

The plea contended that the incident had occurred due to large-scale industrialisation and sought immediate financial assistance and compensation for the Uttarakhand people.

The plea was mentioned by advocate Parmeshwar Nath Mishra, who was appearing for petitioner Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati.

The plea sought a direction to the National Disaster Management Authority to actively support Joshimath residents and emphasized that no development is needed at the cost of human life and their ecosystem.

On Monday, stressing that every minute is important, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary S.S. Sandhu directed immediate evacuation of people from the affected zone in Joshimath, which is facing land subsidence.

Earlier, a bulletin from the Disaster Management Authority Chamoli said that cracks have appeared in 678 houses so far while 82 families have been shifted to safe locations in the town. Sandhu held a meeting with the concerned departments at the State Secretariat to review the situation in Joshimath.