A month after major environmental disaster unfolded in the Zanaskar valley, the Centre has finally decided to explore the possibility of carrying out the "controlled blasting and manual work" to clear the blockade of Phutkal River that led to the formation of 15 kilometre artificial lake.
A month after major environmental disaster unfolded in the Zanaskar valley, the Centre has finally decided to explore the possibility of carrying out the "controlled blasting and manual work" to clear the blockade of Phutkal River that led to the formation of 15 kilometre artificial lake.
What had happened?
A major environmental disaster had unfolded in the Zanaskar valley after 200 feet landslide blocked the famous Phutkal River leading to the formation of five kilometre artificial lake between Shaday Sumdo and Mar-Shun in the Kargil district of cold desert of Ladakh. However the size of the lake increased to 15 kilometres due to the huge water spill. dna was first to report on January 18 about the major environmental disaster in the Zanaskar valley which could lead to the flooding of the nearby villages.
What was the immediate response from the government?
Alarmed by the phenomenon, the authorities had closed the famous frozen ice Chaddar trek for the tourists and asked the people in living few villages to shift as there is greater danger of flooding.
Chaddar trek is world famous for frozen ice walk along the Zanaskar River. Nested in the icy mountains, the Chaddar trek is famous among the adventurists who walk over the frozen ice to reach to the famous Phutkal monastery and the last habitation in the Zanaskar valley.
Every winter around 1000 tourists embark on the trek on frozen ice along this trek. This trek is also used by locals during the harsh winters to reach to Leh from Zanaskar when the roads and highways get closed due to snowfall.
What is the government's plan to clear the blockade?
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) experts had visited the site and submitted the report to the centre. Union Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth on Friday chaired the meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to discuss the report on the Phuktal River blockage, submitted by the expert team of the NDMA.
It was decided to breach the 400M wide 200M high and 50M thick massive wall of landslide that has blocked Phuktal river and create a manual channel for controlled release of over 50 million cubic metre (MCM) water. The decision was taken among several options that included blasting the landslide with the help of dynamite or by laser guided low intensity bombs by Indian Air Force, sources said.
"First the channel would be created manually to release the water. Gradually the channel will become big and the water releasing process will also increase. In case it did not work then second option of controlled blasting would be used. In that case laser guided bombs would be used", Skalzang Wangyal, executive councilor, tourism and power, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil, told dna.
Integrated efforts
The task involves integrated efforts from at least eight government agencies - including Army, Air Force, Border Roads Organisation, Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment, National Hydro Power Corporation, Central Water Commission, Survey of India and Central Institute for Mining and Fuel Research. The execution of the Action Plan envisages snow clearance of over 40 km of road from Padum to Morne in Kargil district, trekking for about 43 km to the site of landslide, air dropping of men and material, manually digging of channel. This herculean task is expected to take about 30 days by which time the snow would have just started melting.
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