Massive search and rescue operation is underway to save trapped workers from the Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli district of Uttrakhand.
The state government has officially confirmed that 197 workers remain missing in the flash flood since Sunday. The rescue team has so far recovered 26 bodies and was successful in evacuating 12 persons trapped in a tunnel.
A major rescue operation is underway involving the ITBP, Army, SSB, State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force – are working round the clock to find trapped workers.
Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has arrived in Chamoli to assess the rescue operation. He held the meeting with a senior officer last night there.
A flash flood in river Rishiganga created havoc near Reni village in district Chamoli. The Rishiganga and Tapovan power projects were badly affected by the disaster.
Providing a new theory on the flash flood, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (a constituent unit of Indian Space Research Organisation) claims that the flash flood took place after a landslide triggered a snow avalanche. The institute rejects the earlier theory of the disaster taking place due to glacier burst.
Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh has said that officials of the NTPC, THDC, and SJVNL will study about the disaster on images provided by the ISRO. After returning from the disaster-hit areas, Mr Singh said that financial assistance is being provided to the dependents of the deceased by the State Government as well as Centre.