Lake forms on Rishiganga river in Uttarakhand, alert sounded

The Uttarakhand government on Friday sounded an alert after satellite images detected the formation of a large lake in the catchment area of the turbulent Rishiganga river which had caused a deluge on February 7We have to remain alert as satellite pictures show formation of a 400 metre long lake at Rishiganga Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat saidTop government officials said people have been asked not to go near Rishiganga river and take all precautionsOn the other hand the government also sent a team to see the formation of the lake and suggest measures The team comprising personnel of the National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force personnel will trek through the tough terrain to take the first hand information of the lake formation in the higher altitudes of the HimalayasThis team will trek to see exact location of the lake and submit a report in this regard state police spokesman DIG Nilesh Anand Bharne saidThe government has also asked scientists of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and the Geological Survey of India to depute teams to Rishiganga valley to make a detailed report on the lakes formationReports pouring in from different areas of Chamoli district said the flow of Rishiganga has abruptly increased many times since Thursday afternoon that also forced the authorities to suspend the search operation inside the disasterhit tunnel of NTPCs 520 MW TapovanVishnugad hydel project Rishiganga is a tributary of Dhauliganga river on which the Tapovan project is being builtSince Thursday morning villagers around Rishganga project which was destroyed in the heavy floods had been complaining to the district administration about the formation of the lakeThe people in our Reni village are very scared ever since they heard about this lake We hope the administration will take necessary steps in this regard said Bhagwan Singh village pradhan of Reni We are having sleepless nights said Ashish Rawat of Saldhar village which lies close to the RishigangaThe village pradhan said some people in Reni which was badly affected by the disaster are so terrified that they are not going homes even in the night and sleeping in cold wintery nights in higher areasCongress General Secretary Harish Rawat has also asked the government to take prompt steps on the lake formation issue Over 200 persons went missing after the deluge last Sunday morning that had hit the two hydel projects in Chamoli districtThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever