DRP 040825: Arunachal Activists urge Centre to find dimensions of China’s Medog Dam

August 4, 2025August 4, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Aerial view of the Yarlung Tsangpo’s Great Bend, Medog County)

Arunachal and other Himalayan states activists in a press conference in Delhi have rightly urged the Union Government to publicly demand from China all the features and dimensions of the Medog Dam on Yarlung Tsangpo river, their impact assessments and share the same promptly in public domain before even considering any project like the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP). This is important since without knowing the features, dimensions, operating procedures and impact assessments, all the projections being made about the possible impacts of the projects are completely speculative and unfounded.

Continue reading →

Alaknanda · Climate Change · Hydro Disaster · Landslide

Aug 2025: Rockslide at Vishnugad-Pipalkoti in Uttarakhand

August 4, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Rockslide at dam site of 444 Mw Vishnugad-Pipalkoti HEP on Aug 02, 2025)

At least 12 workers sustained injuries in a rockslide at the under construction Vsihnugad-Pipalkoti Hydro-Electric Power (VPHEP) project in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The 444 Mw (111X4) project is being built on Alaknanda River by the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC).

Continue reading →

Climate Change · Cloud Burst · Hydro Disaster · Rivers

Aug 2025: Flashflood Damages Malana-I HEP in Himachal Pradesh Again

August 3, 2025 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: Flashflood breached Malana I HEP coffer dam & washed away vehicles on Aug. 01, 2025 in Kullu district, HP)

The controversial Malana-I hydroelectric power (HEP) project has again faced significant damages by a ‘cloudburst’ induced flashflood disaster in afternoon of Aug 1, 2025. The 86 Mw project is based on Malana stream, a tributary of Parvati in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. Interestingly, the project’s dam site had suffered major destruction exactly one year ago on Aug 1, 2024 in a similar ‘cloudburst’ disaster.

Continue reading →

Climate Change · Disasters · GLOF · Hydro Power Projects · Rivers

DRP 280725: CWC Guidelines on GLOF should have mandated all information in public domain, independent assessment after every GLOF

July 28, 2025July 28, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

Guidelines for Structural Measures to Mitigate Adverse Effects of GLOF on Dams Central Water Commission (CWC) on July 23 has issued new guidelines to safeguard dam infrastructure from risks and threat of flash floods triggered by glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). The information about this 40 paged documents named Guidelines for Structural Measures to Mitigate Adverse Effects of GLOF on Dams July 2025 was shared by CWC director Shiv Kumar Sharma, in a LinkedIn post. The document is available in PPT format and a pdf link for the same is still not available.

Continue reading →

Climate Change · Dams · Disasters · Floods · Rivers

DRP 210725: Moving Joshimath Landslide a threat to Tapovan Vishnugad HEP in UKD?

July 21, 2025July 21, 2025 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: Hydropower Tunnel project shown in the Joshimath area along with the Watershed Boundary. This figure is generated using ArcGIS software-version 10.3.1 and CorelDraw Graphics Suite 2019 https://www.coreldraw.com/. Source: Analyzing Joshimath’s sinking: causes, consequences, and future prospects with remote sensing techniques. May 2024)

A paper in scientific journal co-authored by Internationally renowned landslide expert Dave Petley (published on June 16 2025 at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2025.108201) warns that the Joshimath landslide is moving and can threaten the under construction Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project in Chamoli district in Uttarkhand. The paper says: “The 2023 rapid deformation at Joshimath was preceded by slow movement years ahead. Deforestation in the Joshimath region might have intensified the slope instability. Additional landslide zones were detected in Hailang, Kalpeshwar with similar pattern. Slow-moving landslides have high potential to cause often underestimated damages.”

Continue reading →

Climate Change · Dams · Hydro Power Projects · Rivers

DRP 070725: Demand for Commission of Inquiry on Hydro Obsession in Himachal

July 7, 2025July 7, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Flood ravaged Priyadarshini HEP in Manuni khad in Dharamshala, Kangra. Source: Social Media)

Hydropower obsession, Himalayan failure The massive hydropower push, another legacy of post-1990s liberalisation, has amplified vulnerability. Dams have mushroomed across river basins in Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba, and Kullu — with scant regard for ecological thresholds. Muck from these construction sites is routinely dumped into riverbeds, narrowing channels and raising riverbeds. When the rains arrive, this loose muck turns into a lethal force, taking down everything in its path. The hydropower model — built on the assumption of perpetual revenue — has neither delivered long-term employment nor sustainable energy. Instead, it has left behind ecological scars, displaced communities, and made vast swathes of the state more disaster-prone.

Continue reading →

Beas · Climate Change · Cloud Burst · Hydro Disaster

July 2025: Flash Flood Destroys Patikari Hydro Project in Himachal

July 3, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Dam site of Patikari HEP destroyed by the flash flood.)

A ‘cloudburst’ induced deluge on the intervening night of June 30 and July 01, 2025 has totally destroyed the Patikari Hydroelectric Power (HEP) project in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The 16 Mw project was built in Gudah village on Bakhali khad (Kuklah stream) a tributary of Beas River upstream Pandoh dam. The main project structures including the dam site and powerhouse have been washed away in the disaster. The 12 workers of the project managed to escape in the nick of time.

Continue reading →

Cloud Burst · Hydro Disaster · Rivers

June 2025: Indira Priyadarshini HEP in Himachal: Workers missing, Project damaged

June 26, 2025June 30, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature image rescue work in Manuni khad in Khaniyar, Kangra on 26 June 2025. Source: Social Media)

In a tragic incident several workers of under construction Indira Priyadarshini Hydel Project are missing after a ‘cloudburst’ induced flash flood struck the project site on June 25, 2025. The 4.8 Mw (2.4 X 2) small hydro power project is being developed by Indira Priyadarshini Hydro Power Pvt Ltd (IPHPPL) on Manuni khad near Sokani Da Kot village under Khaniyara post office of Dharamshala tehsil in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. Manuni khad is a tributary of Baner River in Beas basin. The construction work started in Dec 2019 & was scheduled for commissioning in May 2026.

Continue reading →

Rivers

Message after 50 yrs of Gharial conservation: Save Rivers if we really want to save Gharials

June 26, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

The Central message after fifty years of Gharial Conservation effort since 1975 is that Gharial’s fate remains precarious. It seems like a species living on borrowed time, forever on the verge of extinction. It is living thanks to a few scientists, forest officials and some riverside communities. And if we really want to save Gharials, we must save rivers, the habitat of Gharials from sand mining, dams and pollution.

If the next 50 years of Gharial conservation are to be more successful than the last, India will need to protect not just a species, but an entire ecosystem. Gharials can be saved only if their habitat, rivers can be saved. India showed the will to save tigers starting early 1970s, but is there a will to save some of the rivers to save gharials?

Continue reading →

Climate Change · Dams · Groundwater · Rivers · Water

DRP 16 June 2025: “Indus River older than its landscape, Himalayas”

June 16, 2025June 16, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

INDUS RIVER: Stephen Alter, in his article “With the River by My Side” says about Indus River that some rivers are older than the landscape through which they pass: “Nowhere is this clash between hydrological and geological history more apparent than along the Indus, as it passed through Ladakh. This seemingly eternal river has followed its winding course since long before the Himalaya were formed, tossing and tumbling over. Boulders, stones and pebbles that the water polishes and grinds into sand. Eroded flanks of the mountains on either side of the river are scarred and twisted by tectonic forces that lifted giant slabs of rock more than eight kilometres into the clouds but failed to block the persistent flow of the Indus. Driving along the highway that runs parallel to the river, from Leh to Kargil, it feels as if the landscape is a timeless epic that the waters of the Indus have etched in stone.”

Continue reading →