Army allays fears about Tibet lake causing floods

The Army on Tuesday sought to allay fears about a flash flood in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab due to the formation of a lake along Pareechoo river in China's Tibet region.

The Indian Army on Tuesday sought to allay fears about a flash flood in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab due to the formation of a lake along Pareechoo river in China's Tibet region.

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"We are abreast of the whole situation and would like to tell everyone that there should be no reason for concern," said Major General RS Gill of the Western Command.

He said the Command headquarters at Chandimandir, under whose area the border with China fell, was monitoring the flood situation.

"The satellite imagery of sent to us by the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) on August 6 has not shown much change in the size of the new formed lake inside Tibet," Gill said.

The Army official said he had no idea about reports saying Chinese authorities put the lake at 6.5 km long and much wider. NRSA's images had shown the lake to be just 1.9 km long and 900 m wide.

Army units have been put on maximum alert along the Lepcha-Karcham sector where Pareechoo river enters India and meets with Spiti and Sutlej rivers at Khab in Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh.

"We are ready with men, machines, medical teams, rescue teams with choppers and other support to tackle any flash flood," Gill said.

He admitted, however, that a 100-km route along Pareechoo, Spiti and Sutlej rivers up to Karcham in Spiti valley was threatened by flash floods due to the formation of the new lake.

"But there is no threat to Punjab," he assured following rumours that floodwaters could come along the Sutlej from Himachal Pradesh.

The Deputy Commissioner of Patiala had to go on radio and TV channels on Monday to deny that Punjab was threatened by floods due to the lake in Tibet.

Gill said flag meetings with Chinese Army were being held in the Leh sector and information regarding the threat from the lake had been discussed. No such flag meetings have been held near Kaurik, which is close to the area under flood threat.

He said the Army was not removing five major bridges across the rivers despite the flash flood threat.

"If the flood comes, these bridges and National Highway 22 from Shimla to Kaurik would be extensively damaged but we are prepared to restore the link in sometime," a senior army engineer said.

Gill said that reports of China carrying out blasts to puncture the lake were not true.

"We are in touch with them. If blasts are carried out, these would be controlled explosions to regulate the lake water so that a flash flood is averted downstream."

Army officials said that the water capacity of the present size of the lake could be tackled and affected area would be only till Karcham valley if the Pareechoo lake did give way.

The Gobindsagar reservoir of Bhakra Dam has a capacity of 9,000 million cubic metres of water and is still 80 ft below its maximum storage level.

"It can take the load of water coming with the flash flood. There is no reason for people in Punjab to worry about flooding," an official said.

The vital 1,500-megawatts Nathpa Jakhri Power Corporation (NJPC) project, which lies along the Sutlej riverbed, had been shut down due to threats of a flash flood in the river.

A major flash flood in Spiti and Sutlej rivers had caused massive devastation in Spiti and Kinnaur areas of Himachal in 2000.

Several bridges on the rivers — which are the only connection with other parts of the country — were washed away.