DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY GENERATOR INSTALL

The mountain and the surrounding Nanda Devi Sanctuary were closed to expeditions. It virtually became the Nanda Devi Battalion, says Kohli. KohliвЂ™s 8th Indo-Tibetan Border Police Battalion was moved to Tapovan, near the Rishi Ganga banks, to continuously monitor the waters for radioactivity.

DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY GENERATOR INSTALL

In the effort to install the surveillance device, and then retrieve it, nearly a dozen ascents were made from 1965-68 on Nanda Devi, described by climber Tenzing Norgay as among the most difficult Himalayan climbs. It stretched the limits of human endurance,' Kohli says. вЂњConsidering that over 200 people were involved and it went on for three years, this was the 20th centuryвЂ™s greatest mountaineering-cum-espionage operation. Certainly, it can tap into the veil of intrigue and mystery that shrouds the beautiful mountain 50 years on. The script is ready, he says, but refuses to give any details.

Kohli says a Hollywood film pivoted on the 1965 incident is being planned. Barring a few exceptions, such as army or IMF sponsored expeditions, nobody is allowed to climb or explore Nanda Devi, purportedly for environmental reasons. The area has been virtually closed for decades. One suggestion is that they were lost in an avalanche. The plutonium capsules, which according to KohliвЂ™s and other estimates have a longevity of over a hundred years, could still be buried somewhere in the snow. Theories and fears abound, but nobody seems to know what happened. When they returned in May 1966, all the equipment-including the deadly stock of plutonium, which was вЂњabout half the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima', says Kohli-was missing. Team leader Manmohan Singh Kohli, now 83, had to choose between men and machine: He chose to save the lives of his men вЂњmany would have been killed,' he says today. On 18 October, when the team reached Camp IV, at over 24,000ft, a terrible blizzard and severe cold conditions forced a rethink. The generatorвЂ™s nuclear fuel, consisting of seven plutonium capsules, came in a special container. Installing the device, however, meant carrying up equipment weighing around 56kg, including an 8-10ft-high antenna, two transceiver sets and the most vital component, a system for nuclear auxiliary power (SNAP) generator. A remote sensing device atop Nanda Devi could keep track of any further tests. In 1964, China had conducted its first nuclear tests in Xinjiang province. Three years after IndiaвЂ™s defeat to China, at the height of the Cold War between the Western and Eastern Blocs, it was considered essential to keep a tab on ChinaвЂ™s growing military might. In October 1965, the USвЂ™ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and IndiaвЂ™s Intelligence Bureau (IB) joined hands in a clandestine mission to install a nuclear-powered sensing device on the summit of IndiaвЂ™s second highest peak, also one of its most revered: the 25,643ft (around 7815m) Nanda Devi in UttarakhandвЂ™s Garhwal Himalayas.

Dawn of the final day generator