DRP 131123: Another Himalayan Disaster: 40 workers trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand

November 13, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Ongoing rescue work inside Badkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi. Image Source: HT)

In yet another disaster in the Himalayas, at least 40 workers are trapped in an under-construction tunnel being constructed by National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL), among others. The Hindustan Times has wrongly named the construction company as Hydroelectricity Investment & Development Company Limited (HIDCL) possibly of Nepal govt. Some people at the location have informed us that it may take another day before the workers are rescued.

NHIDCL was not even sure of the total of number of workers, as they gave the number as 36, which was corrected by the district administration later on to 40. It is also strange to see the work going on even on a Diwali day. Another disturbing aspect is that all the workers are reportedly mostly from outside Uttarakhand, when Uttarakhand villagers are known to migrate in large numbers to outside the state for employment. This disaster thus raises a lot of questions, which will need answers once the workers are rescued safely. The workers are still trapped over 30 hours after the disaster. The work at the 4.5 km long tunnel is being built under Char Dham Road Widening project since over 4 years, and violations have been happening in the work since then, as we reported in 2019.

Continue reading →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP 061123: Dam Disasters bring focus on Dam Safety Governance in India

November 6, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: Location of washed away Teesta Urja dam. Source: Ka Shlem)

Is the Dam Safety Panel (DSP) report dated Nov 1 2023 on Medigadda barrage on Gadavari in Telangana, a self-indictment of the Dam Safety Mechanism in India?

The report concludes: “it is construed that the I&CAD (Irrigation and Command Area Development) Dept. has nothing to submit about instrumentation data, pre-monsoon &post monsoon inspection reports, completion reports, quality control reports, condition of gates and many other inputs sought in the list therein”.

How and why did the NDSA (National Dam Safety Authority) allow such a state of affairs to continue for such an important dam that has huge implications for life and economy as the report itself says? What steps did the NDSA take before this disaster struck to ensure that all these basic dam safety measures were indeed in place and functioning? What is NDSA doing to ensure that all such basic steps and measures are in place at all the large dams in India? What did NDSA do to ensure that this dam, important from the point of view of life and economy, was also listed in CWC’s National Register of Large Dams? What has NDSA done to ensure that CWC’s National Register is indeed updated every year with inclusion of all large dams of India (Large dam as per its definition) and all their salient features? What has NDSA done to ensure that all Dam Safety information is in public domain promptly?

Continue reading →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP 231023: Need to be a little serious about Dam Safety, Flood Forecasting, Use of Early Warnings

October 23, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Landslide warning board at Lakhwar dam site on Yamuna river. SANDRP, June 2015)

India need to relook the Dam Safety Act Experts say the Sikkim incident exemplifies blind spots in both legislation and implementation. The DSA does not promote risk-based decision-making and fails to incentivise transparency. Himanshu Thakkar, an environmental activist and coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, says that the frequency and scale of such disasters reveal a pattern of neglect: “It keeps happening regularly, people face disastrous consequences and we call these ‘natural disasters’. But there’s nothing natural about them.”

A robust DSA should allow different stakeholders to access information easily, but India’s framework falls short. “Dam safety is a public purpose function. Everything about dam safety, functions of all the institutions and committees and authorities, their reports, decisions minutes and agendas, everything should be promptly available to the public,” says Mr. Thakkar. “But nothing is in the public domain.” He adds that transparency is further obstructed when national and State bodies comprise government employees and engineers who worked on these projects, compromising objective decision making and lacking “people with a proven track record of taking independent decisions.”

Continue reading →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP 161023: Kaddam Dam Rehabilitation in Telangana: Many more will need this

October 16, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRP1 Comment

(Kaddam dam spilling over with flood waters in July 2023. Image Source: SM)

Telangana’s Kaddam Dam, built with inadequate spillway capacity, has seen multiple threats and disasters over the years, starting from the very first year after its commissioning in 1958. The dam again saw threat of being washed away during monsoon this year. The Telangana government has decided to rehabilitate the dam at a cost of Rs 640-700 Cr, by reconstruction of spillway and installation of new gates. We hope the new spillway capacity will be in line with the changed monsoon rainfall pattern and will be able to take care of the higher probable maximum precipitation and higher probable maximum flood. Though we are unlikely to get to know how this is going to happen, as the standard operating procedure of all dam owners in India is secrecy rather than transparency even in dam safety aspects. One also hopes this is done at the earliest, and till that is achieved, the dam rule curve will be changed to ensure the dam does not face disastrous situations during monsoon.

Continue reading →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP 021023: Why this culture of opaque governance around Joshimath?

October 2, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: A temple collapses after the gradual ‘sinking’ of Joshimath in Chamoli district, on Jan. 08, 2023. PTI/HT)

It is clear that the Union and the Uttarakhand government did not want the reports prepared by different national institutes related to Joshimath Sinking, to be made public and the state High Court had to order it to do so. The government’s view of the report is clear from that. It took the judiciary so many months to finally order the report to be made public. What is it that the government wanted to hide? Why? From whom? Why is there this culture of opaque governance even in disaster management related issues? Is it growth fundamentalism that is driving the government as the single most factor? Or is it the arrogance and adamant attitude of the governance, not wanting to consider any questions raised against their decisions? Why is there so little faith in the people, society and transparent, accountable governance? Why is the judiciary allowing such a culture to prevail generally?

These are some of the key questions that arise from this and other such episodes.

Continue reading →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP 250923: World Rivers vs Indian Rivers on Rivers Day 2023

September 25, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Najafgarh drain loaded with polluted water joining River Yamuna downstream Wazirabad barrage in National Capital in June 2023: SANDRP)

Sept 24 is celebrated as the World Rivers day since 2005, the tradition started by river advocate Mark Angelo, who used to celebrate BC (British Columbia in Canada) Rivers day since 1980. There is some good news for rivers across the world in terms of decommissioning of dams, improving environment flows, movements to clean rivers, improve fish migration, protection of flood plains, room for the river, decommissioning of channelisation projects, among others.

Continue reading →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP 110923: Another independent institution-CEC destroyed

September 11, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Ramganga River near Marchula. SANDRP 08 Sept. 2023)

The Govt of India’s Sept 5 2023 notification reconstituting the Central Empowered Committee completely destroys the independent nature of this institution of accountability and course correction. This institution, set up by the Supreme Court in 2002 and reconstituted in 2008, worked as eyes and ears of the Supreme Court on environmental issues. The new committee has no independent members, it will be constituted by the MoEF, MoEF itself has such an abysmally poor track record.

The notification, reports said, diluted the CEC’s autonomy on four key counts: the committee will report to the ministry, instead of the SC; the ministry will pick all the members and the SC will have no role in the process; the ministry, and not the court, will fund the committee; the provision of having two NGOs in the committee has been done away with.

Continue reading →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP 140823: A year after Karam dam disaster: people suffer, engineer set free, contractor building more dams

August 14, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Breach in Karam dam, Madhya Pradesh. Source:- Social Media)

It was on Aug 13, 2022, a year ago when the Karam dam wall in Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh started leaking water. Two days later it collapsed. The people who suffered during the disaster continue to suffer. The engineers who were supposed to ensure proper construction of the dam, following all the norms, did not do that, were supposed to be suspended, but got reinstated elsewhere. They kept quiet in the courts. The black listed contractor continues to build more dams.

A clearer evidence of the nexus that supports unwanted, destructive, costly, corruption ridden and disastrous dams would be difficult to find. As the destruction due to dams and such other unaccountable infrastructure development plays out in Himachal Pradesh & elsewhere this year, the nexus that thrives on opaque, unaccountable and non-participatory governance continues to happily grow even as the changing rainfall patterns bring greater disasters before our eyes.

Continue reading →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP 310723: Disastrous SHORT TERMISM in Urban India

July 31, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: Earthmovers on restoration work as massive landslide damaged buildings at Shamti after heavy monsoon rainfall, in Solan district, on July 11, 2023 | Photo Credit: PTI/The Hindu)

The Supreme Court’s notice on Shimla development plan that lacks balance between development and environment is welcome and one hopes the apex court takes the issue to its logical conclusion. The consequences of unplanned and ill planned urban developments are a clear invitation to major disasters, including floods, landslides, traffic congestions, air and water pollution, health hazards and also water shortages. The Shimla Master plan also violates the NGT directions with complete impunity.

This is exactly what the EDIT in the Times of India on Mussoorie misery, dangerous short termism that pervades across sectors in Urban India with no policy to guide Urban Water sector or for that matter any other sector.

Continue reading →

Dams

DRP 240723: Urgently need parameters that will truly reflect rainfall pattern

July 24, 2023February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: – IMD’s District Wise Cumulative Rainfall Map for 01 June to 23 July 2023)

India received 389.2 mm rainfall till 0830 hrs on July 23, 2023 in SW monsoon. This being 5% above the normal rainfall till this date of 370.9 mm, India Meteorological Department and with it, the whole nation calls it Normal Monsoon. But anyone who is familiar with the rainfall pattern across India will not call it Normal.

We must urgently develop new parameters for describing the monsoon that also take into account spatial (across states, districts, Tehsils, blocks) and temporal variability. These parameters should take into account the departure from normal for each unit of space for each day and combine such departures to arrive at a figure that will better describe the monsoon for each unit of space. It can also take into consideration the high intensity rainfall events as also the longer dryer patches. This will help us understand not only the nature of monsoon rainfall, but also alert the farmers and everyone else but also help us understand how this pattern is changing over the years. This should not be so difficult for IMD to initiate and accomplish quickly. When aggregated at river basin level, this will also help us understand the actual rainfall pattern in each river basin but also how it is changing. Is this too much to ask?

Continue reading →