Dams

Six regions of India facing prospects of crop failure and drought?

July 14, 2015July 14, 2015 SANDRP2 Comments

At least six of the 34 Meteorological divisions of India seems to be facing the prospects of crop failure and drought, if we look at the rainfall in these divisions in last 18 prime monsoon days from June 25, 2015 (monsoon had set in almost all over India by that date) to July 13, 2015, the latest date for which division wise rainfall are available. In these six sub-divisions, the rainfall during these 18 prime monsoon days has been between 0.1 mm to 12.8 mm. Continue reading “Six regions of India facing prospects of crop failure and drought?” →

Dams

Dams, Rivers & People: July 13, 2015

July 13, 2015February 18, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

HYDRO POWER

UTTARAKHAND: Vishnugad-Peepalkoti Hydroelectric Project affected protested against World Bank (09 July 2015) The affected people of Vishnugad-Peepalkoti Hydroelectric Project (VPHP) have surrounded the officers of World Bank with the slogan of “World Bank Go Back, Let Ganga free”. In even the bad weather and rain, almost 70-80 people have surrounded the hotel in which the team of World Bank was staying. Their officers were present there from 03rd July without the knowledge of villagers. After the incident, Ms.Sona Thakur of World Bank has came out and asked them to sit and talk inside the hotel. https://www.facebook.com/sandrp.in/posts/1083146828379656

Why Vishnuprayag and other Uttarakhand Hydro Projects continue to affect two years after the June 2013 disaster https://sandrp.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/why-vishnuprayag-and-other-uttarakhand-hydro-projects-continue-affect-two-years-after-the-june-2013-disaster/

Small Hydro: Kharadi in Yamuna Basin: when Small Hydro unleashes big destruction https://sandrp.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/kharadi-small-hydro-unleashing-big-destruction/

Jammu & Kashmir: NHPC’s Chutak power house submerged in Kargil: NHPC clueless two weeks after the disaster https://sandrp.wordpress.com/2015/07/11/nhpcs-chutak-power-house-submerged-in-kargil-nhpc-clueless-two-weeks-after-the-disaster/

DAMS

MHA to Monitor Landslide Dams to Avoid Any Disaster (10 July 2015) The threat of severe earthquakes in the Himalayan region close on the heels of the devastating one in Nepal, as indicated by several scientific studies, has prompted India to put hundreds of landslide dams or LSDs under constant monitoring so that they do not break with catastrophic consequences. The Centre has roped in the National Remote Sensing Centre, Central Water Commission and the Indian Air Force as part of the new SOPs to ensure continuous monitoring of the quantity of water flow of all major rivers in the upper reaches by visual, instrumental, aerial and satellite surveillance, and ascertaining the cause of a reduced water flow at the earliest. http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31818&articlexml=MHA-to-Monitor-Landslide-Dams-to-Avoid-Any-10072015003067

NAPM Press Release: Frustrated over long delay in rehabilitation, Sardar Sarovar Project Affected Commits Suicide (10 July 2015) Yesterday, on 9th July 2015, in the village Chimalkhedy, barely 10 to 12 kms away from the Sardar Sarovar Dam, TembhryaKutarya consumed poison and committed suicide. This news reveals the actual dire reality underlying the false tall claims of rehabilitation by Maharashtra Government. While this press note is being drafted the dead body of the old man Tembhrya Kutarya is decaying on the banks of the river Narmada in the village Chimalkhedy and the Govt. is “still thinking” how to take MBBS doctor there to do postmortem. Dr. Anil Patil appointed on the riverine dispensary on the medical barge that is very irregular, in spite of being in Kevadia colony (the colony near SSP) since yesterday morning was apparently neither aware of nor was concerned about this incident. https://www.facebook.com/sandrp.in/posts/1083835098310829

Continue reading “Dams, Rivers & People: July 13, 2015” →

Dams

NHPC’s Chutak power house submerged in Kargil: NHPC clueless two weeks after the disaster

July 11, 2015 SANDRP1 Comment

Power house of NHPC’s 44 MW Chutak hydropower project on Suru River in Kargil in Jammu & Kashmir was submerged on the night of June 28, 2015, two weeks later India’s premier hydropower company is still clueless about the cause. One of the costliest hydropower projects of India, the project in Indus basin was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi less than a year back on August 12, 2014. For several hours after the water started filling the powerhouse, the project officials were in the dark and media reported that it was locals who alerted the officials. Continue reading “NHPC’s Chutak power house submerged in Kargil: NHPC clueless two weeks after the disaster” →

Dams · Expert Appraisal Committee · Ministry of Environment and Forests

NGT Quashes MoEF’s Office Memoranda on violating projects: Large number of irrigation projects of Maharashtra & Karnataka affected

July 8, 2015July 11, 2015 SANDRPLeave a comment

Press Release 08.07.2015

In a landmark judgement, the Hon. National Green Tribunal has quashed the Office Memoranda issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF for short) on the 12.12.2012 & 27.06.2013 for “Consideration of proposals for TORs/Environment Clearance/ CRZ Clearance involving violation of the Environment (Protection) Act, 19861 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 / Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011”. Continue reading “NGT Quashes MoEF’s Office Memoranda on violating projects: Large number of irrigation projects of Maharashtra & Karnataka affected” →

Dams · Dams, Rivers & People

Dams, Rivers & People: July 06, 2015

July 6, 2015February 18, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

HYDROPOWER

NORTH-EAST: ARUNACHAL PRADESH: 4 hydroelectric projects including 2000 MW Subansiri denied environmental clearance (02 July 2015) ” The committee also noted that public hearings for the projects had not been conducted and asked the power developers to submit response to the various issues raised by the New Delhi-based NGO South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.” http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150702/jsp/northeast/story_29019.jsp#.VZXfvqRdz5d Continue reading “Dams, Rivers & People: July 06, 2015” →

Dams

Dams, Rivers & People: June 29, 2015

June 29, 2015February 18, 2026 SANDRP1 Comment

HYDROPOWER

UTTARAKHAND:

Constructing new dams will hinder mission to clean Ganga, says Uma Bharti Flagging her concerns against the major culprit (hydro-power projects), the Union water resources minister Uma Bharti has asked different ministries including environment and power to take a cautious approach while allowing construction of any new dam on the river. Her ministry is particularly against the six contentious hydro power projects in Uttarakhand which, it thinks, would severely affect the e-flow of the Ganga. Environmentalists had already pitched for scrapping of such projects that they believe may lead to another June, 2013-like disaster in the region. (June 24, 2015: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/Constructing-new-dams-will-hinder-mission-to-clean-Ganga-says-Uma-Bharti/articleshow/47793769.cms) Continue reading “Dams, Rivers & People: June 29, 2015” →

Dams · Krishna River · Maharashtra · Marathwada · Ministry of Environment and Forests

Krishna Marathwada Scheme receives Environmental Clearance WITHOUT Water Availability!

June 29, 2015September 2, 2015 SANDRP2 Comments

Why is the Maharashtra Govt and the MoEF misleading people of Marathwada?

Press Release 29.06.15

On the 24^th June 2015, the Union Ministry for Forests, Environment and Climate Change (MoEF for short) granted Environmental Clearance[1] to Krishna Marathwada Lift Irrigation Scheme for diverting 23.66 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic Feet) water from Krishna 1 Sub basin to Krishna 3 Sub basin of Krishna River Basin. The media has reported the development as a “Respite for Marathwada”.

However, as SANDRP had written to the MoEF several times[2], this Environment clearance is based on non-existent water availability and a misleading EIA[3] by Science and Technology Park, University of Pune. Continue reading “Krishna Marathwada Scheme receives Environmental Clearance WITHOUT Water Availability!” →

Dams · Hydropower · Monsoon · Uttarakhand

Dams, Rivers & People: June 22, 2015

June 22, 2015February 18, 2026 SANDRP1 Comment

HYDROPOWER

HIMACHAL: Himachal Pradesh engineers blames untrained engineers and human errors responsible for growing numbers of hydro power project mishaps (15 June 2015) HP engineers say that the board was suffering these losses as they lacked the trained engineers. The limited staff is under pressure to perform technical duties and pressure mount on them as the government was not serious about filling the posts, said Lokesh Thakur, general secretary, HP Power Engineers’ Association, expressing anguish over the death of three engineers, two of whom worked in the HPSEBL.http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/himachal/lack-of-trained-engineers-to-blame/94204.html Continue reading “Dams, Rivers & People: June 22, 2015” →

Climate Change · Dams · Environment · Ganga · Narmada · Rivers · Sand Mining

Dams, Rivers & People: June 15, 2015

June 15, 2015February 18, 2026 SANDRP2 Comments

HYDROPOWER

Nothing covert about it: We think of northeast India only as a frontier (12 June 2015) BRILLIANT and yet VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING piece from Nitin Sethi: “Take the case of dams in Himalayas. The religious value of Ganga for us in the mainland forces governments to at least pretend to save the river and the people around it from the contract and concrete driven madness. But the same governments do not think twice about displacing entire cultures that flourish in the Brahmaputra basin building the same bumper to bumper dams on the Brahmaputra basin, bending rules regulations and policies for ‘strategic interests’. The irony is lost on us when we cordon leftover lands of these cultures in ‘compensation’ for the loss of ‘India’s’ wildlife and forests to the inundation that follows… We govern their homelands like a frontier – sending out-of-favour governors and officials on punishment postings.” http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/nothing-covert-about-it-we-think-of-northeast-india-only-as-a-frontier-115061200799_1.html

Hydropower: Down to a trickle (10 June 2013) Uttarakhand flashflood put a fresh spanner in the works amid concerns over climate change and its impact on rainfall and on river flow and its patterns, which in turn may have an impact on plans for hydropower generation. Most of India’s hydropower potential falls in seismic zone 5, a region classified as highly vulnerable to high-intensity quakes. Even among green projects, hydro takes top billing. In March, during the first half of the Budget session, power, coal and renewables minister Piyush Goyal admitted in the Lok Sabha that uncertainties in the hydropower sector were keeping investors away. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/hydropower-down-to-a-trickle/#sthash.72LEpqvn.dpuf

NORTH-EAST: Activists in Arunachal Pradesh oppose Centre’s plans to build dams on Siang river (12 June 2015) Very apt: “”on the one hand you are diligently busy in Clean Ganga and Save Ganga and on the other hand you are planning a disaster on Siang sitting at Delhi. ” The forum’s general secretary Oyar Gao also raised the issue of the river’s sanctity saying that the Siang is referred to as Aane (mother) in the same manner as Ganga Maiya.” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47642482.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Continue reading “Dams, Rivers & People: June 15, 2015” →

Dams · Western Ghats · Wetlands

Remembering Wetlands on World Environment Day

June 4, 2015June 25, 2015 SANDRPLeave a comment

Above: Wetlands in Western Ghats Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

On this World Environment Day, a number of images leap to mind from the past year: Prime Minister of India performing the famous Ganga Arati after elections to new species of fish and frogs discovered (again) from Western Ghats. From TSR Subramaniam justifying his Committee Report which seeks to disintegrate the environmental governance of the country to Jadav Payang, single-handedly planting thousands of trees in Assam. From the filthy Yamuna flowing through the national capital to the unseasonal rains that damaged crops of millions of farmers. Continue reading “Remembering Wetlands on World Environment Day” →