Uttarakhand to probe glacier burst; toll now at 58

Uttarakhand Irrigation Minister Satpal Maharaj said that the state government will create a department to investigate the cause of the glacier burst incident in Chamoli and monitoring of the glaciers through satellite.

"All angles (related to the Chamoli glacier burst) should be investigated. We will form a department in our ministry to monitor and study all the glaciers through satellite," he said.

“We are concerned over the way glaciers are melting and the tidal wave created in the mountains. The plutonium pack that was kept to monitor China's movement should also be investigated," Satpal said.

"Orders were made to place plutonium pack to monitor China's movement at the borders. We request the government to investigate the pack too," he added.

He further stated that the railway projects in the area are safe.

"As the water in the Srinagar dam was depleted, the debris flowing to the dam came to halt, keeping the railway projects safe," Maharaj said.

The death toll in the avalanche triggered by the bursting of a glacier in Chamoli has gone up to 58 as a total of 11 bodies are recovered from the Tapovan tunnel, whereas 146 people are still missing, said Uttarakhand Police on Tuesday.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel along with National Disaster Response Force and other sister agencies have been conducting search and rescue operations in Chamoli district.

Meanwhile, the Alaknanda River at Srinagar in Pauri Garhwal is flowing at the normal level; no alert has been issued by the district administration in this regard, said the Uttarakhand Police.

Uttarakhand Disaster Response Force has put an alarm system to detect the rise in the level of water and alerted about it, in Raini village of Chamoli district.

A glacier burst in the Tapovan-Reni area of Chamoli District of Uttarakhand last week led to massive flooding in the Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers and damaged houses and the nearby Rishiganga power project.