April 20, 2005
Balaji Reddy
India Daily
Finally Prime Minister of India is getting serious on a issue that has triggered major alarms in different parts of the country as well the world.
Highest snowfall in a decade received this year and the recent floods in Assam and Bihar had created "room for concern". The heavy snowfall must be seen in tandem with the other phenomena of global warming, higher degrees of convection and resultant rains accumulating in the river basins of the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, A major flood in North India can be disastrous.
According to media report, apprehending a "disaster" in the Himalayan region because of melting of snow, the Federation of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to put the disaster management machinery on high alert to avoid damage.
The Federation Vice-President and MP Murli Deora has written a letter to the Prime Minister, drawing his urgent attention to the heavy avalanches in the upper western reaches of the Himalayan Ganges.
He said these avalanches were "an indication of a disaster in the making" and hence, the Government needed to gear itself accordingly well before the Monsoon, barely few weeks away.
Citing assessment of the sources of Red Cross and agencies that are constantly monitoring the situation in the Himalayas, Deora said the highest snowfall in a decade received this year and the recent floods in Assam and Bihar had created "room for concern".
The heavy snowfall must be seen in tandem with the other phenomena of global warming, higher degrees of convection and resultant rains accumulating in the river basins of the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, the Congress MP said.
He said the Red Cross has warned that impact of the floods in North India could extend to neighbouring countries.
"With a major disaster almost waiting to strike, it is becoming imperative for the Government to set the entire disaster management machinery on a high alert in conjunction with the neighbouring countries likely to be affected," Deora said.
He said the Prime Minister had assured that the matter would receive attention of the Government.
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