Nearly four months after the Uttarakhand flash floods, the environment and forests ministry has formed an expert committee to study whether the environmental degradation caused by hydro-electric projects on the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers led to the disaster.
Other than looking into the degradation caused by functioning as well as on-going hydro-projects, the committee will also examine the impact of the proposed 24 hydropower projects on the biodiversity of the region.
The ministry has given the committee three months to study the impact and submit a final report by January 14, 2014, a statement on the ministry's website said.
The 17-member committee will examine the extent to which the projects were responsible for the tragedy.
