During ongoing North East monsoon season at least six rivers have breached highest flood levels (HFLs) at their respective flood monitoring sites in December 2023. All of these HFL breach incidents have taken place in two states of Andhra Pradesh (3) and Tamil Nadu (3). Interestingly, all of these rivers are part of East Flowing Rivers (EFR) between Pennar and Kanyakumari basin. The details of HFL breach sites and rivers are given in table below.
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DRP 181223: Varanasi’s illegal tent city inaugurated by Prime Minister in Jan 2023
(Feature Image: Collage of Sentinel Hub satellite images of Tent City location in Ganga river bed in Varanasi from Nov. 26, 2022 to Dec. 11, 2023)
While the NGT putting a stay on the Varanasi Tent city and imposing a fine of Rs 25000 on MoEF for not responding to NGT about how the turtle sanctuary was denotified is welcome, we hope NGT takes it to its logical conclusion. It is strange, to say the least to see the NMCG telling NGT through its one page report dated Dec 13 2023 that the Varanasi Development Authority proposal dated Nov 28 2023 for tent city is under consideration! The Tent city companies were fined by NGT, but UP PCB is yet to do anything to collect the fine. Most interestingly, the Prime Minister, no less, inaugurated the tent city project on January 13 2023, over 11 months back! And very shockingly, none of the National Media is even reporting this remarkable situation.
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Why India needs Dam Decommissioning policy and program
India’s Dams and decommissioning As per the Parliamentary Committee for Ministry of Jal Shakti, in its 20th report dated March 2023[i], the committee had asked the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti about the mechanism put in place in India to assess the viable lifespan and performance of dams and projects, which has a direct bearing upon the consideration for dam decommissioning. The Department had replied: “There is no mechanism to assess the viable lifespan and performance of dams… However, no information/recommendation from the dam owners has been submitted for de-commissioning of any of their dams.”
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2023: Accidents & Damages to Hydro, Dam Projects in India
(Feature Image: The damaged Chungthang dam on Teesta river in North Sikkim. Source: The Telegraph)
This annual overview compiles the incidents of accidents and disasters that have caused significant damages to the hydro power and dam projects and around them in India during 2023. The report also highlights the incidents of violations of environmental norms at some under construction project sites which could result in manmade disaster in future.
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DRP 201123: Inland fisheries need attention: World Fisheries Day 2023
(Feature Image: Recreational fishers catching fish in Yamuna river downstream Wazirabad barrage in Delhi in June 2023. Image: BS Rawat, SANDRP.)
On the World Fisheries Day, celebrated on Nov 21 every year, there is urgent need to focus attention on the well-being of one of the poorest and socio-economically weakest and much neglected section of population: Inland fisherfolks. They are in huge number, more than 2 crore directly dependent on inland fisheries, many others indirectly dependent. They, unfortunately have no voice in development discourse or decision making processes, nor any even in mitigation measures. Creating an inland fisheries policy, department and institute in every state and at centre can be an important step forward.
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DRP 061123: Dam Disasters bring focus on Dam Safety Governance in India
(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?
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Dam Safety Panel report of Medigadda Dam Disaster indicts Telangana, L&T and Dam Safety in India
The Dam Safety Panel from Union Ministry of Jal Shakti has submitted its report on Nov 1, 2023, which says the disaster at the Medigadda Dam occurred “due to a combination of issues involving planning, design, quality control and Operation and maintenance” of the Dam. The report concludes: “The barrage under the present condition is rendered useless until fully rehabilitated.”
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Rivers Crossing High Flood Levels In SW Monsoon 2023 in India
(Feature Image: Yamuna river near CWC flood monitoring site at Mawi in Kairana. SANDRP/June 2023)
SANDRP has compiled Highest Flood Level (HFL) breach incidents, which includes 2 incidents in June, 34 in July, 17 in August, 22 in September 2023. This report presents the final summary of all HFL breach incidents taking place during South West Monsoon season 2023. The PDF file has the details on all the HFL breach. Our previous reports on the subject can be seen here: HFL breach incidents in 2018, 2019, 2020, May-Sept 2021, Oct.-Nov 2021, May-June 2022 and July-October 2022. .
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Medigadda dam of Kaleshwaram project in Telangana damaged in Oct 2023
A portion of the Lakshmi (Medigadda) barrage on Godavari river on Telangana-Maharashtra border, part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district[i] caved in on Oct 21 2023, Saturday night with a loud sound. The incident led to the temporary closure of the bridge of the barrage across the Godavari River that links Telangana’s Mahadevpur mandal with Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. The KLIP is the world’s largest Lift Irrigation Project, possibly the costliest, with expenses already above Rs 1 lakh crore. The Union Govt, recognising this as a major dam failure under para 8 of Schedule II of Dam Safety Act 2021, has promptly sent a team of six experts to assess the damage.
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DRP 231023: Need to be a little serious about Dam Safety, Flood Forecasting, Use of Early Warnings
(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.”
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SANDRP 