Yamuna Manthan July 2025: Is Delhi Ready for July 2023 like Yamuna Floods?

July 11, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: EOS-RS Flood Proxy Map: New Delhi, Floods, 12 July 2023,v0.4)

July 13 will mark two years since the Yamuna river stretch in national capital witnessed unprecedented flood spell. The river not just submerged every part of existing available floodplain by several feet but also spilled over to reclaim its lost channels. The unusual flood also breached historic 1978 flood level at Delhi railway bridge by a huge margin, setting new benchmark.

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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.

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Climate Change · Dams, Rivers & People

DRP 30 June 2025: Dam Safety concerns arise as monsoon sets in

June 30, 2025June 30, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Kabini Dam. Source: WRD, Karnataka)

The SouthWest Monsoon has just set in and dam safety issues are coming up in large number of dams in Karnataka, Telangana, besides dam disasters in Himachal Pradesh. This shows how much more we need to do to assure structural and operational safety of India’s dams in changing climate.

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Climate Change · Cloud Burst · Dams · Hydro Disaster

June 2025: NHPC Parbati II, III HEPs damaged in floods

June 29, 2025March 25, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Screen shot of remaining portion of washed away tin-shed of NHPC’s Parbati II HEP. Source: Anil Khatri Vlog)

In addition to severely damaging the Jiwa and Priyadarshini small hydro power projects, the ‘cloudburst’ induced flash floods on June 25, 2025 has also significantly affected the Parbati II & III projects in Sainj Valley of Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh.

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Cloud Burst · Hydro Disaster · Rivers

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

June 26, 2025March 25, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

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

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.

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Forest Advisory Committee · Free flowing rivers · Irrigation · Maharashtra · Ministry of Environment and Forests · Western Ghats

Dabhil Mauli: Stories and Struggles of a Small River in the Western Ghats

June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

At the window of his new house, in a crowded suburb of Pune sits Aba Gawas. He looks out at the traffic and talks of his river Dabhil, more than 400 kms away from him. For years, Aba has fought hard to protect the river. He calls it Dabhil Mauli, a term of endearment reserved for mothers and deities. He is not keeping very well and longs to return to Dabhil Mauli. I realize with a sudden pang, rivers are home.

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Dams

The World Commission on Dams is eminently relevant at 25!

June 18, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

2025 marks the 25 years of the publication of the World Commission on Dams Report in Nov 2000, the report and its recommendation are as eminently relevant as they were ever earlier including in 2000.

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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.”

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Climate Change · Dams · Rivers · Water · Water Options

DRP 020625

June 2, 2025June 16, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

HYDRO POWER PROJECTS

Jammu & Kashmir In Kupwara district the 12 Mw Karnah in Kishan Ganga sub basin has joined the long list of HEP projects facing reoccurring damages, repeated delays and cost escalation in Himalayan states. The flash flood, landslides and cloudburst disasters in Feb and May 2025 have further damaged the project and extended its completion date.

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Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP 260525: Opposition to large hydro as strategic projects

May 26, 2025February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Lahaul Spiti Ekta manch holds a protest rally against hydel projects at Udaipur in Lahaul Spiti on Friday May 23. Source: The Tribune)

Some of the most prominent reports this week are related to wide spread opposition to large hydro projects in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, among other states. Indeed, there is little sense in building large hydro projects as strategic assets as seems to be the case in Himachal Pradesh and J&K (Chenab basin) and Arunachal Pradesh (Siang basin, among others). Use of security forces to complete pre-feasibility survey when local communities are strongly against the project, as is being done in case of Siang Upper Multipurpose Project is clearly counter-productive in so many ways. In Kerala people have again gathered to oppose the destructive Athirapally Hydro projects that they have been successfully opposing since late 1990s.

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