Joshimath, Feb 9 (IANS): Residents of Uttarakhand's Joshimath are living in a state of fear as five more houses have developed minor cracks along with the widening and increasing number of cracks in residential buildings already affected with land subsidence in the city.

Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana reached the area and inspected the houses on Wednesday.

Khurana, on Thursday said that the size of the old cracks had increased in the houses where crackometers were installed.

Cracks had also developed in the fields in Manohar Bagh ward in January. Suraj Kaparwan, owner of one of the affected fields, said that the administration had filled the cracks with soil and plastic.

The development of new cracks in the holy city had stopped after January 20, but has started again, adding to the worries of the locals and the administration.

Along with this, cracks in the houses of Manohar Bagh and Singhdhar ward have widened.

Locals have also been worried about the sudden drying up of a natural stream that had been flowing since the past several years in Joshimath's Singhdhar ward.