The parliamentary standing committee on science and technology has asked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop an alert system to warn on landslides, following a brief discussion on the Chamoli flooding in a meeting on Monday.
The committee, headed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, was meeting to discuss the Demands for Grants (2021-22) of the Departments of Space and Atomic Energy. During the presentation, the ISRO informed that satellite images were used to analyse the reason for this sudden flooding.
According to the satellite imagery, the February 7 incident that claimed 62 lives is believed to have been caused by the breaking of a rock-glacier that led to flooding of the Rishiganga river. Nearly 100 persons are still missing after the sudden flooding.
Sources said that many members, including TMC MP Shatabadi Roy, asked the ISRO if it so far had any alert mechanisms to forewarn about landslips on the lines of its cyclone warnings. The ISRO officials informed the panel that so far there were no systems in place. They acknowledged the necessity to bring such systems in place. They assured the committee that they will explore the possibility of developing it.
