Scientists reconstruct source of glacier burst
Rescue ops to continue till last victim is reached, says NDRF commandant
HYDERABAD, FEB. 16
A team of scientists, specialising in glacial studies, after an extensive survey, on foot and by helicopter, have reconstructed what happened on February 7 in Uttarakhand when a section of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off and caused havoc and deaths downstream in Chamoli district of the state.
According to Dr Kalachand Sain, Director of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, a team of five scientists from the Institute, Dr Manish Mehta, Dr Vinit Kumar, Dr Sameer Tiwari, Dr Amit Walia, and Dr Akshsaya Verma, surveyed the area where the glacier broke off from and the path it barreled down between February 8 and 12 and have a fairly good picture of what happened on February 7.
HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED ACCORDING TO
THE SCIENTISTS:
An underlying layer of metamorphic rock, due to the constant variations in the day and night temperatures, and seasonal variations in temperatures, weathered resulting in the rock becoming like a multilayered wafer. Gravity did its part in this weakened rock breaking off from under the glacier leaving the mass of ice hanging, which ultimately broke on February 7.
A hanging glacier with a rock mass at a height of 5,600 metres above mean sea level broke off leaving behind a signature of its fall.
It rolled down a steep 40 degree gradient taking with it rock, soil, and moraine (rock and soil previously carried by a glacier and deposited along its course), and freshly fallen snow to 3,600 metres MSL very quickly.
The breaking ice chunks, and other debris fell into a nala, a stream formed by glacial melt.
This material travelled about 8.5 km downstream where the nala joined the Rishiganga river at 2,300 metres MSL, that is also fed by the glacier.
By this time, this humongous amount of slurry of ice, rock and soil, first created a dam of sorts at this confluence because of natural impediment along the course of the river and then it broke past this structure.
From there it rushed down another 4 km to Reni village where the Rishiganga hydel power project is located and practically demolished this structure causing huge damages to the project.
Carrying the fresh debris from the Rishiganga project as well as some small bridges and even more material from the sides of the steep valley, the fast-moving slurry joined Dhauliganga river (by this time, the amount of material was simply enormous, with a huge momentum, like a small tsunami, says Dr Sain).
As the slurry moved downstream, the valley slowly widened and the height at which the ice, water and slush moved came down as did its speed. By this time, the material had travelled 22 km, swamping the Tapovan Vishnugad Hydel Power Project, crossing which it slowly lost momentum and material as the slurry got deposited along the course of the Dhauliganga river.
Tapovan, Feb 16: Two more bodies were recovered early Tuesday from the Tapovan tunnel where intense rescue operations were underway for the
10th consecutive day in search of those missing in the Uttarakhand flash floods. With the recovery of two more bodies, the cumulative toll in Chamoli’s glacial disaster has mounted to 58 while
146 are still missing, a police official said.
While one body was recovered past midnight, another was recovered around 2 am from the tunnel, the official deputed at a temporary mortuary at Tapovan where the bodies are being kept said.
So far 11 bodies have been recovered from the sludge choked intake Adit tunnel of the flash flood ravaged TapovanVishnugad hydel project.
The multi-agency rescue effort in Chamoli district is focusing on the Tapovan tunnel where about 30 workers were feared trapped. The agencies involved in the Tapovan rescue work include the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force.
State-run power giant NTPC on Tuesday said it has started disbursal of compensation to families of workers at its Tapovan project who lost their lives due to the flash flood in Uttarakhand earlier this month. The first cheque of `20 lakh was handed over to Vimala Devi, wife of late Narendra Ji of Tapovan Vihar on February 15.
Meanwhile, rescue operation at the site was on in full swing for the ninth consecutive day with extensive coordinated work being carried out by multiple agencies including NTPC to reach those trapped in the tunnel at the site.
While dedicated teams from NTPC are managing the entire rescue operation behind the scene by assisting the rescue teams, the company airlifted machinery, including high-end submersible slush removal pumps, to fast-track the operation.
The Tapovan project had stood like a rock against the tsunami like flood and bore the brunt of nature’s fury. In the process, the barrage of the project saved many villages downstream from being swept away. NTPC said it has set up a workforce at the Tapovan site to coordinate with the administration and gather all required information about every missing worker.
Meanwhile, amid fading hopes of the survival of those who went missing after a glacier disaster in
Uttarakhand's Chamoli district 10 days ago, NDRF Commandant PK Tiwari said search-and-rescue operations will go on in the flood-hit hydel project sites till the last victim is reached. Asked about the chances of survival of those missing or trapped, the NDRF commandant said he cannot say anything with confidence but miracles do happen.
“We found a survivor in Himachal Pradesh even on the 10th day of a similar tragedy. There are miracles. But there are lakhs of metric tonnes of sludge in the tunnel. However, as a soldier and a rescuer, I can only say the operations will continue till the last
victim is reached,” Tiwari said.
Describing the ongoing rescue operations at a tunnel of the damaged
Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project of the NTPC as unique, he said the muckclearing exercise may take months, if not a year.
Last year, Arvind Panagariya, former vicechief of the government Niti Aayog, wrote in his book, India Unlimited – Reclaiming the Lost Glory, that Indian babus suffered from the socialist hangover, which has slowed down the pace of reforms the Narendra Modi sarkar wishes to introduce. To support his view, he cited Mr Modi’s initiative for lateral entry at the top levels of the bureaucracy. According to Panagariya, babus slowed down the process to the extent that at the very end of his term only nine officers could be inducted from outside.
But the government has not given up, yet. It is making another push to induct 30 more private sector specialists into different government departments at the crucial decision-making level of joint secretaries and directors on a contract basis. The Union Public Service
Commission (UPSC) will shortlist the candidates for interviews.
Prime Minister Modi has introduced the mechanism of recruiting fresh talent in the bureaucracy from the private sector during his first tenure. But the first round hasn’t been the success that the government was expecting. It could recruit only nine of the 10 domain experts it had selected, and one of them, Arun Goyal, who had joined the commerce ministry as joint secretary, put in his papers barely a year later. It appears that far from changing the system, the lateral entrants are more likely to be subsumed by it. Further, a year after their appointment, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) had issued a notice to the UPSC after a petition from whistleblower Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi alleged irregularities in the recruitment of three of the nine lateral entrants by the government.
The government is catching flak already. Some opposition leaders are calling for the policy to be withdrawn. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad has threatened to “gherao” Parliament, calling the government’s move a violation of constitutional rights. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejaswi Yadav has said that UPSC’s lateral recruitment an injustice to the youth.
Will the Modi sarkar overcome the political resistance from outside and from the babus within who may try to defend their turf?
KERALA IGNORES SC ORDER
ON BABU TENURES
Though the Supreme Court fixed a two-year tenure for babus back in 2013, few states have complied with the directive. Most states are clearly unwilling to cede this leverage over bureaucrats. Even in states where civil services boards were set up, by the order of the apex court, netas always seem to find ways to go around the directive to achieve their political ends. Even Kerala often held up as an example of progressive governance, has snubbed the SC’s ruling.
Official data reveals that the average tenure of secretary-rank officers in “God’s Own Country” from
2014 until 2018 was 11 months and has reportedly dipped further since then. Until last December, Kerala had only 34 officers of secretary and principal secretary rank holding 72 posts! 16 principal secretaries are holding 31 posts, of which
27 are cadre posts. Similarly, 18 secretary-rank IAS officers are looking after 41 posts!
Sources say that some officers including principal secretaries K.R. Jyothilal and Rani George are discharging three responsibilities, and Secretary Tinku Biswal is
Though the Supreme Court fixed a two-year tenure for
babus back in 2013, few states have complied with the directive. Most states are clearly unwilling to cede this leverage over
bureaucrats.
managing four posts!
This data came to light as poll preparations begin for the assembly elections due in May this year. But while this flies against the idea of good governance, it is unlikely to matter to voters at the hustings, which may explain why governments continue to defy the apex court’s order.