Haridwar, February 7, 2021: Former Union Minister Uma Bharti has made several tweets after the destruction due to glacier burst.

She said, “The power project built on the RishiGanga has been severely damaged after a glacier above Pang village, District Chamoli, Uttarakhand, 24 km from Joshimath, broke down.”

She wrote, “Yesterday I was in Uttarkashi and today I reached Haridwar. An alert has also been issued in Haridwar. That means destruction can come to Haridwar. This incident which happened on the RishiGanga in the Himalayas is a matter of both concern and warning. In this regard, when I was a minister, in the affidavit given by my ministry about the dams on Himalayan rivers, it was requested that the Himalayas are a very sensitive place, so there should not be power projects on Ganga and its main tributaries. The (electricity) loss of 12 percent of Uttarakhand due to this should be compensated by the national grid.”

A major accident has occurred due to the breaking of the glacier near Joshimath in Chamoli district in Uttarakhand. There is a possibility of the death of 100-150 people in this natural disaster. Right now the relief and rescue operations by NDRF, ITBP, Army and Air Force are going on. The RishiGanga Power Project has suffered the most in this disaster and many labourers working here are missing.

What is the RishiGanga Power Project?

A power generation project is underway in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, named RishiGanga Power Project. It has been working for more than 10 years. It is not a government but private sector project. There was a lot of opposition to this project earlier too and people working for the environment had also approached the court to shut it down. However, this project did not stop.

Project running on RishiGanga River

This project is going on on the river RishiGanga. The river joins the Dhauli Ganga. Due to glacier breakdown, the water level in both these rivers has increased and there have been flood-like situations. When the project starts functioning at its full capacity, there is a plan to supply the electricity generated from it to other states including Delhi and Haryana.