The government has decided to review the design flood of all the existing and under-construction dams vulnerable to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). Further, it has made it mandatory for all new dams planned to have Glacial Lakes in their catchments to do GLOF studies.The decision came after the collapse of the Teesta-III Hydroelectric dam in October 2023 witnessed the entire dam being washed away along with a whole army camp downstream, including personnel, trucks, munitions and hundreds of people settled around the downstream in a sudden gush of icy water. The Central Water Commission (CWC) monitors 902 Glacial Lakes and Water Bodies. Out of it, 477 Glacial Lakes & Water Bodies, having water spread to areas greater than 50 ha and 425 Glacial Lakes having a size of 10 ha to 50 ha from June to October every year. In a statement, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, the Union Minister of State for Jalshakti said it enables the detection of relative change in water spread areas of Glacial Lakes & Water Bodies, as well as identifying the ones which have expanded substantially during the monitoring month, from disaster perspective. Further, a Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction (CoDRR) under NDMA involving representatives from six Himalayan states and other stakeholders has identified a set of high-risk glacial lakes, assess and prepare comprehensive mitigation strategies in terms of setting up an early warning system. Moreover, a High-Level Committee Chaired by the Union Home Minister has approved a GLOF risk mitigation project for Rs 150 crores for the States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh to support the efforts of State Governments to take up various mitigation measures related to GLOF.“As per the information compiled by NDSA, 47 dams (38 Commissioned and 9 under construction dams) have been identified by the Central Electricity Authority under the Ministry of Power, which are likely to be affected by the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) from glacial lakes in the Indian territory. GLOF studies have been completed for 31 projects,” said Choudhary. Besides, the Ministry of Earth Science has been monitoring and carrying out scientific research on two pro-glacial lakes in the Chandra Basin since 2013.
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