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Blocked Mandakini threatens UP with bigger calamity than Malpa

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

With an enormous artificial lake forming on river Mandakini in Rudraprayag district, another major calamity is in the offing in Uttar Pradesh.

Wednesday's landslides have deposited huge chunks of land and boulders into the river to create a dam, which is now causing the water to spread into a nearly seven-kilometre lake. Officials say that if it bursts, it could devour entire villages and affect life in places till Rishikesh.

"The water body, at certain places 60 metres deep, could turn into a massive tidal wave in case the boulders blocking the river gives away," they say.

The authorities are now evacuating entire villages in low-lying areas, not only along the course of the river but also along the Alakanda river, with which Mandakini merges.

Evacuation is going on in areas between Madmaheshwar to Srinagar, while the people of Lakshman Jhoola in Rishikesh have been alerted.

Though the army engineers have succeeded in making small openings in the dam to facilitate water flow, the lake is still expanding.

Meanwhile, rescue teams of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Indian army have recovered 38 bodies of the landslide victims in Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Dehra Dun and Pauri.

Of this, 11 bodies were recovered from Pithoragarh's Malpa. The bodies of the seven victims in Dehra Dun and four in Pauri have also been recovered.

Over 280 people -- 202 in Pithoragarh, 70 in Rudraprayag, seven in Dehra Dun and four in Pauri -- are feared killed in the landslides which began Tuesday morning, forcing rivers to change course and wreak havoc.

Sixty members of the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage are among the dead.

Torrential rain, clouds, extremely poor visibility and loose boulders rolling down have made rescue operations very difficult.

An Indan Air Force spokesman said four Chetak helicopters could finally take-off from Bareilly at 1648 hours and land in Dharchula. A MI-17 helicopter also managed to land at Pithoragarh this evening.

"If the weather continues to improve as it did today, the helicopters will be able to reach the site of the mishap tomorrow morning and make a major contribution in rescue operations," Pithoragarh Additional District Magistrate N S Negi told Rediff On The NeT over the telephone.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, meanwhile, has sanctioned Rs 12.5 million from the national relief fund for disbursement to the families of the victims. The next of kin of each deceased would receive a compensation of Rs 50,000.

Additional reportage: UNI

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