Expert panel set up to monitor sudden water surge in hot springs in Leh's Chumathang

Leh/Jammu: There has been an alarming rise in the water levels of hot springs in the Chumathang area of Leh district's Nyoma sub-division recently and a mechanism will be put in place to monitor it, officials said on Wednesday.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI), the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and other expert teams will formulate a white paper on the rise in the water levels and share the same with all stakeholders, especially the Ladakh administration, the officials said.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Secretary of the Union Territory of Ladakh Amit Sharma, the officials said, adding that senior teams of the National Disaster Management Agency, Geological Survey of India, Central Ground Water Board, National Institute of Hydrology, Western Himalayan Regional Centre and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology attended it.

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The formulation of the white paper will be followed by an advisory on 'do's and don'ts' for locals and the setting up of a regular hot springs water-level monitoring mechanism at Chumathang-Nyoma, Sharma said.

A threadbare brainstorming was held on the issue of the sudden surge of 2-3 metres in the water levels of Chumathang-Nyoma hot springs in the last 10 days of November, the officials asserted.

The Chumathang hot springs are located in a small hamlet along the Indus river about 138 kilometres from Leh.

—PTI