Punjab Floods 2025: Role of Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar Dams

September 7, 2025September 8, 2025 SANDRP3 Comments

Every dam can potentially help moderate floods to some extent in the downstream area. This is possible only when the dam is operated with that objective in mind. However, when the dam is NOT operated with that objective and is filled up as soon as there is water available, the same dam can in fact bring avoidable flood disaster in the downstream area.

This is exactly what has happened in Punjab ONCE AGAIN during the 2025 SW Monsoon. This has happened on numerous occasions in the past including in 1978, 1988 and 2023, for example.

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DRP 250825: Threat of Dam Floods continue to be ignored

August 25, 2025December 5, 2025 SANDRP2 Comments

(Feature Image: The release of water from Pong Dam has brought devastation to Mand Bhograwan village in Kangra district, where the sudden rise in the Beas river has submerged several acres of fertile land and put houses at risk. Aug 17.)

Sudden release of large quantity of water from the dams has the potential of creating avoidable floods in the downstream areas as we could see last week in case of Ukai Dam water releases affecting Surat in South Gujarat, Ujani and Jayakwadi dam water releases in Maharashtra, Bhakra and Pong dam releases in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, among others. In all these cases, we can show that earlier water release was warranted based on available information, considering the carrying capacity of the downstream river, but such action was delayed till either the dam was full before water started (e.g. Ujani and Jayakwadi) or too large water releases created avoidable flood impacts in case of Ukai Dam on Tapi River in South Gujarat and also in case of Bhakra and Pong dams. There were also extensive damages in Mirzapur and Chandauli districts of Uttar Pradesh due to sudden release of water from a number of dams including Chandra Prabha Dam, Ahraura dam and Jargo Dam among others.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 010724: Time for independent review of Polavaram Project?

July 1, 2024July 3, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Work going on Polavaram Project at Polavaram in West Godavari. DC Image: Narayana Rao, Dec. 2020)

The sequence of events over the last two decades that ended this week with white paper on Polavaram project being released by the newly elected Andhra Pradesh govt underlines urgent need for an independent assessment of the multi-state Polavaram Project on Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh.

The story of the project similar to, though a bit longer than that of the ill-fated Kaleshwaram Project of the neighbor Telugu speaking state of Telangana. Both are ill-conceived, expensive, high impact projects on same Godavari River, both taken forward without sufficient studies and implemented without sufficient checks and balances.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 030624: Ecological challenges before the new govts in Sikkim & Arunachal

June 3, 2024June 3, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Anti dam graffiti on the wall of the civil secretariat building in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in July 2022. Source: Social Media)

As the Hindustan Times Editorial today (June 3, 2024) has rightly underlined, a major challenge before the newly elected state governments in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh is to urgently review the existing, under construction and planned mega hydropower projects in the fragile Himalayan ecology in these border states.

These states are inherently vulnerable to large kinds of disasters including landslides, earthquakes, erosion, floods, GLOFs and also multi hazard disasters. These inherent vulnerabilities are already hugely increased under climate crisis. The large hydropower projects being taken up here are acting as force multipliers for disasters in these states as recent experience including the Oct 2023 events in both states have shown.

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Dam floods

2023: Incidents of Dam Induced Floods in India

January 2, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Flooded streets of Ankleshwar, Bharuch district, Sept. 19, 2023. Photo: Kalpesh Gurjar/India Today)

In this third annual overview on dams and hydro power projects, we have compiled the reports on flood disasters caused by unscientific or improper operation of dams, hydro and barrage projects in India in 2023. The report highlights criminal negligence by SSNNL and BBMP resulting in massive flood destruction in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Similarly, the sudden discharges from hydro power dams in Assam, Himachal and Uttarakhand have caused flash flood deluge damaging human properties along the respective rivers. The report also covers some incidents of barrage induced flood events along Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and along Yamuna in Delhi. The first part of the series on Hydro and dam related accidents and second part on People’s Protests against Hydro & Dam Projects in India in 2023 can be seen here and here respectively.

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Bhakra Dams · Dam floods

No dispute about role of Pong and Bhakra dams in Punjab Aug 2023 floods

August 21, 2023August 23, 2023 SANDRP1 Comment

Large parts of Punjab are facing flood disaster since about Aug 14, 2023. There is no doubt that these floods are due to sudden, untimely releases of massive quantities of water from BBMB managed Pong and Bhakra Dams. It is welcome news that even Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary has now listed the three BBMB managed dams situated in HP, namely, Pong, Bhakra and Pandoh among the 21 dams that have violated the Dam Safety Norms and also the CWC Guidelines of 2015 and action will be taken against them.

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Dam floods · Dams

April 2023: Breach in Micro Hydel Canal Damages crops in Punjab

April 27, 2023May 1, 2023 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Breach in GGSSTP micro hydel canal on April 26, 2023. Image by The Tribune)

A sudden breach in a micro hydel canal of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant (GGSSTP) has damaged standing wheat crops on hundreds of acres of land in Ranjitpura village of Ropar district, Punjab. The breached occurred near Batarla around 08:00 am on April 24, 2023.

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River Biodiversity

When a gharial landed in a cow shelter in Delhi

June 3, 2022 SANDRPLeave a comment

It’s been more than six months since I got a Whatsapp video forward from my friend Yayati Bhardwaj along with a message in Hindi about some cow vigilant rescuing a ‘crocodile’ from Swaroop Nagar area of Delhi and sending it to a cow shelter in Narela, a bustling town in North West Delhi bordering Haryana.

It was around 07:00 pm on November 12, 2021 when busy in market, I had quick glance over the video. It was not very clear and shot with loud Punjabi music playing in the background. It showed some monitor lizard kind reptile lying motionlessly on ground with wheat grains scattered around it. At first sight, I found nothing to be surprised or worth responding.

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Bhakra Dams · Dam floods · Indus

Are we ready to use more water from snow melt in Indus basin this year?

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 SANDRPLeave a comment

Union Water Resources Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has recently said that the snow this year on Himalayan peaks is the highest in 50 years, and reservoirs like Bhakra, Pong, Ranjit Sagar, Ramganga, Tehri, etc will receive very high water inflow from snowmelt during summer and SW Monsoon.[i] This is in fact the third warning this year on this issue. Earlier on Feb 27, 2020 and then again on May 4, 2020, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) provided the same warning to its partner states. However, neither the Union Minister & BBMB, nor the partner states seem ready or doing anything to prepare for the unprecedented situation that the dams and rivers may bring in ongoing summer and coming SW monsoon.

In fact the situation is similar to the one that happened twice at Bhakra-Pong-Ranjit Sagar Dams last year[ii]. Even then not only there were massive floods, but the water flowed away to Pakistan, totally against the declared pronouncements and policy of Indian Government leaders including the Prime Minister. Continue reading “Are we ready to use more water from snow melt in Indus basin this year?” →

Dam floods · Dam Induced Flood Disaster · Dam Safety

2019 Monsoon: Instances when Dam Safety Came into Question

October 31, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

The South West Monsoon in 2019 in India brought the highest rainfall of last 25 years and issues related to heavy rainfall continue even to the end of October 2019. Here we have listed major instances during the monsoon when there were question marks over safety of dams either due to structural safety or due to wrong operations of the dams. Some issues of breaches of embankments/ canals are also included here. As we can see, the instances come from across the country, including North East, North, West, Centre, South.

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