With the native residents of subsidence affected Joshimath unwilling to shift away from the town, the Bharatiya Janata Party has suggested to the government that the affected families should be resettled on their own land or on land near the town. The BJP State president Mahendra Bhatt appealed to the affected people of Joshimath to have faith and said that all standards of modern technology and safety will be observed in construction of the buildings in the area. Responding to questions raised by media persons on the Joshimath issue, the BJP State president said that no risk of any type of construction can be taken at the site of the 1,200 buildings which have been marked in the danger zone by the government. He stressed that both the State government and the party organisation want the resettlement of the affected families to be facilitated as per the sentiments and wishes of the local residents. The government is considering two options. The first is that homes will be constructed on the land owned by the affected families in other parts of Joshimath, where they will be resettled while the second option is that those who do not own land in the area will be resettled on land near the town. The party has made its opinion known to the government and we are fully confident that the sentiments of the public will be considered. Whatever construction is done in the area will be undertaken with modern technology and all the scientific aspects will be taken into consideration. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has already talked about a survey for ascertaining the carrying capacity of the land. We also want that the height of the constructions in the area should not be much. We favour the use of light weight designs for construction of buildings in the area, Bhatt said. It is pertinent to mention here that the native residents of Joshimath affected by land subsidence have rejected the plan of the government to resettle them away from the town. They state that their ancestral lands, cultural roots, social connections and livelihood are based in Joshimath so they cannot shift to any location away from the town and their resources.

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