The Ganga in the upper reaches has been an engineer’s playground. The Central Electricity Authority and the Uttarakhand power department have estimated the river’s hydroelectric potential at some 9,000 MW and planned 70-odd projects on its tributaries. In building these projects the key tributaries would be modified—through diversion to tunnels or reservoirs—to such an extent that 80 per cent of the Bhagirathi and 65 per cent of the Alaknanda could be “affected”.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit the site of the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project today to review work on the Rs 274.

While rains pound Uttarakhand, causing floods and widespread devastation, the idol of the deity at the Dhari Devi temple in Shrinagar has gone missing. The temple is being relocated by raising it on a platform to make way for the expansion of the Shrinagar hydro-electric project; the move had triggered a major controversy with various religious and local groups vehemently opposing the project.