Chamoli disaster was due to glacier burst

New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar in a reply to a supplementary question in Rajya Sabha on Monday said that the Chamoli incident happened due to glacier burst not because of hydro power projects as the government has not approved any new project in the region in the last six years.He said the Environment, Jal Shakti and Energy Ministry had decided not to grant fresh permission to any hydro electricity project."A total of 19 projects are already operational and seven are under construction of which two are less than 25 MW and six are run-of-the-river projects," Javdekar added .The minister said that an inquiry has already initiated over the Chamoli disaster.
--IANS miz/rt