New Delhi: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force has cleared approximately 80 meters inside the tunnel near Tapovan Dam in Chamoli district which was damaged after a glacier burst triggered a flash flood in the region, with 100 meters debris remaining inside the tunnel to be cleared.
The operation by the ITBP is underway as there is a large amount of debris inside the tunnel, Manoj Singh Rawat, ADG Western Command of ITBP, took stock of the rescue operations by border patrol organisation at the Tapovan tunnel earlier on Tuesday.
ITBP officials also discussed the map of the tunnel with the project authorities at the spot. ITBP, one of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), has been playing a key role in the rescue operation in the disaster. More than 200 ITBP personnel are on the spot.
The glacier breach on Sunday morning at Joshimath in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district triggered a massive flood that hit two hydropower projects -- NTPC Tapovan hydel powerplant and Rishi Ganga hydel power plant -- following which nearly 150 are missing. However, ITBP and other central and state rescue teams have managed to save lives of over a dozen people buried in different tunnels.
The NDRF, ITBP and state authorities have been carrying out rescue operations along with the army in the region. Centre is monitoring the situation and joint efforts of all the agencies are being made to rescue those trapped.
One column and Engineering Task Force (ETF) of Army, with all rescue equipment have been deployed. Indian Army personnel along with ETF opened the mouth of tunnel at Tapovan in the flood-affected Uttarakhand's Joshimath as rescue operations continued more than 24 hours after the disaster hit.
Navy divers are on the standby. Indian Air Force also helped transport NDRF teams and relief materials. NDRF personnel carried the rescue work by clearing the debris with the help of excavators and shovels.
Terrain, low temperature and debris in the tunnel is posing a major challenge for the rescuers. Besides this, a team of Scientists, which was flown to Dehradun last night, has also left for Joshimath area for surveillance and reconnaissance earlier in the day.
Earlier in the day, a team of Scientists from the Centre for Snow and Avalanche Study of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) also left for Joshimath area. The team will keep a surveillance and do reconnaissance of the spot.
The glacial burst led to the rising of water levels in the river Rishi Ganga, which washed away the Rishi Ganga small hydro project of 13.2 megawatt.
The flash flood also affected the downstream hydro project of NTPC at Tapovan on the river Dhauli Ganga, which is a tributary of the river Alaknanda.
The flash flood occurred in Rishi Ganga at around 10.45 a.m. on Sunday due to a glacier falling into it and exponentially increasing the volume of water. Due to this, the Rishi Ganga hydro project was completely devastated.