The Hindu : National : Locate underground flows of Bhagirathi: court

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Friday, Aug 12, 2005

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Locate underground flows of Bhagirathi: court

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the Uttaranchal Government to investigate the underground flows of the Bhagirathi to prevent the river, on which the Tehri dam is built, from disappearing from surface.

A three-judge Bench comprising Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice B.N. Srikrishna and Justice P.P. Naolekar issued notice to them on an application by Commodore Suresh D. Sinha, who said most of the waters of the Bhagirathi were going deep into aquifers and there was a danger of the river disappearing.

The Bench asked the governments to file their response within six days. If authorities felt that it was necessary to keep open the second lower tunnel of the dam to maintain surface water flow, they need not wait for court orders.

Mr. Sinha said there was a fault in the South-Asian tectonic plate very close to the dam, and the whole region would be engulfed in a major disaster if the waters of the Bhagirathi flowed into the hot lava through the fault. A thermo-chemical reaction could take place separating the super-heated steam molecules under pressure into hydrogen and oxygen or carbon monoxide and hydrogen, a highly explosive mix. This could lead to a chain reaction and cause major earthquakes and devastation. The damage could extend up to the Yamuna basin, having an impact on the capital.

As the Tehri reservoir was not filling up and as its two lower tunnels did not feed any power station, it was pointless to keep only one tunnel open. The opening of the second lower tunnel would increase surface flows in the Bhagirathi downstream and reduce the volume of dangerous flows into the deep aquifer, he said.

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