Environment activists in Uttarakhand have raised concerns over attempts to channel and redirect the Kheer Ganga River to its course before August 5, 2025 in Uttarakhand.
On August 5 last year, flash floods in Kheer Ganga led to widespread damage in Darali village. Only two bodies have been recovered following the Darali disaster, while 67 others, including 25 Nepalese nationals, remain missing.
“We have already constructed the canal. The rest of the work will be done in phases. We have formulated a detailed plan of the river including embankments on both sides which has been sent to the Center for approval,” said Sachin Kumar Singhal, executive engineer, Uttarkashi Irrigation Department.
Activists and experts have raised concerns that engineered canals may fail during extreme hydrometeorological events (such as floods), causing greater damage than natural canals.
“It is understood that the government has initiated efforts to redirect the Khair Ganga River back onto its course before August 5, 2025 by constructing a canal approximately 300 meters long. The rationale is that the existing post-disaster channel flows through areas previously used as agricultural lands. However, it is important to realize that debris flow deposits, such as those at Darali, are dominated by coarse gravel and boulders. These materials can block active channels. This has caused subsequent debris flows to seep in,” the statement said. Navin Goyal, a geologist, and Hemant Dayani, an ecologist who was a member of the Supreme Court-appointed high-level committee (HPC) on the Char Dham Expressway project, wrote in a statement last week.
They shared the statement with the National Disaster Management Authority.
Diverting the channel on debris flow surfaces can disrupt the balance between current strength and sediment load, leading to severe erosion in some areas and excessive sedimentation in others, Dayani and Goyal said.
In conclusion, they said: “We are of the view that it would have been better to allow the Kheer Ganga to follow the path it naturally adopted during the event of 5 August 2025. The priority should not be to control the upper Himalayan rivers, but to regulate human interventions in these ecologically and geomorphologically sensitive valleys.”
According to various analyses, the Darali disaster was caused by a suspended glacier feeding the river.
HT reported on August 9, 2025 that the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) had identified a glacial lake upstream of the Kher Ganga River, supporting analysis by some glaciologists. Moreover, satellite images released by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) after the disaster indicated indications of flash floods, with widening of stream channels, changing shape of the river and damage to human lives and infrastructure.
