DRP 020924: HYDRA to protect water bodies in Hyderabad – a landmark move?

September 2, 2024February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: An analysis of satellite imaging of 54 lakes taken in 1979 and 2023, secured by the HYDRAA from the NRSA shows that 40 lakes or nearly 75 per cent of lakes have shrunk by half. (Image: Twitter/DC)

The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Monitoring and Protection Agency, or Hydra was established under GO 99, dated July 19 2024. A task the agency has taken up in all seriousness is protection of water bodies in the Hyderabad Capital Region (it includes 4 districts). To begin with it has started demolition of buildings illegally built inside the Full Tank Area (FTL) and Buffer area of the water bodies.

In July, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy replaced the Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management (EVDM) wing of the government with Hydra, a body mandated to tackle illegal encroachment on water bodies in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits and surrounding areas. Its strength was upgraded from around 800 to 2,200 and its officials came directly under the principal secretary, municipal administration and urban development or the CM himself. “Hydra will also ensure the protection of water bodies in and around Hyderabad,” former EVDM commissioner and Hydra chief A V Ranganath said during its inception.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP N260824: Urban flooding plan welcome, Urban Water Sector needs attention

August 26, 2024February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Assam Floods: Commuters wade through a flooded road after incessant rains, in Guwahati, Friday, July 5, 2024. Image Source: PTI/ABP Live)

The Union Government plan to spend Rs 2517 Cr in 2 years in seven metro cities to mitigate floods is certainly welcome announcement. The key component of the plan, conservation and improving capacity of urban water bodies is noteworthy along with storm water drainage. Does it mean that the River Front Development projects that actually reduce the flood carrying capacity of the rivers will be closed, since one does not expect govt to be working at cross purposes in different schemes.

In fact, Urban Water Sector as a whole needs attention with National Urban Water Policy as a first step. This is because the groundwater aquifers that are fast being emptied out, can be least cost option for storing the excess rain water, serving the purpose of reducing storm water drainage load and also improving water conservation. There is huge scope for this in all the seven metros listed in the scheme as also in many other cities.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 190824: Goa River group win important battle against illegal sand mining

August 19, 2024February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Sand extraction in Mandovi river near Candola bridge. Image Credit: GRSPN)

This is indeed a rare and important victory by Goa River Sand Protectors’ Network (GRSPN) in their long fight against illegal river sand mining in Goa. Following a petition in the National Green Tribunal the state government has agreed to recall all the environment clearances granted by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority.

Goa government has agreed since these clearances were given without a District Survey Report (DSR) as required under the sustainable sand mining guidelines of MoEF. While this may sound like a temporary respite based on some technical violation, the fact is most sand mining clearances across India are given without a credible DSR, but it has not been possible to stop such violations elsewhere.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 120824: Chalakudy community demand Prudent Dam Management Plan

August 12, 2024February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Water flows through the gates of the Peringalkuthu dam on Chalakudy river after a sluice was opened following heavy rain in Thrissur on Aug. 04, 2022. Photo Credit: PTI/The Hindu)

One of the heartening development this week is from Kerala, where Chalakudy river community held a satyagraha to demand proper integrated dam management plan in the Chalakudy River basin to minimize flood risks. It is rather rare that communities come out for such a demand. It was also great to see that the satyagraha was supported by Chalakudy Puzha Samrakshan Samiti, Chalakudy municipal chairman and also environmentalists.

The satyagraha in fact had specific demand for each of the dams included in the Paramibikulam Aliyar Project, including in Kerala and upstream Tamil Nadu. We hope the Kerala government positively responds to these demands at the earliest.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 050824: Cities fail monsoon test

August 5, 2024February 27, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image by Cartoonist Alok/ Sakal, July 25, 2024)

This monsoon has again shown how our cities have been failing the monsoon test for decades. As rightly suggested in the Indian Express Edit this week, main reasons are: outdated drainage systems, planning that is blind to local hydrology and pathetic state of civic agencies. The last factor in fact needs to change to failed governance at all levels. There is no water or flood policy that guides our cities, nor is there any reward for improving governance, nor any penalties for lack of it.

In fact, with better rainwater management, cities can convert this problem into a blessing, both in terms of water security and also improved state of urban landscape. This would be possible if it prioritizes the city’s capacity to hold, store, recharge and drain the rainwater. Instead, the cities are busying destroying such capacities by destroying the rivers, ridges, forests, local water bodies, groundwater recharge capacities and also the drainage capacity.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 290724: Dam Floods need urgent attention

July 29, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Officials said it was very important to identify a dry area for construction of the diaphragm wall and the earth-cum-rock-fill dam on top of it, this being the main dam of the Polavaram project. DC Image)

The floods last week in Pune, with significant contribution from dam releases from upstream has led to Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar directing the water resources department to keep the Khadkwasla Dam only half full to avoid repeat of the floods. While this is welcome and needs to be implemented, it also raises a number of questions.

The phenomena of water releases from dams contributing to downstream floods is not new, it has been going on for decades as SANDRP has been pointing out. Even in 2023 monsoon, several dams were found guilty of this including Sardar Sarovar on Narmada in Gujarat and Bhakra & Pong dams in Punjab (this was highlighted at a meeting in Chandigarh on Saturday by SANDRP and others), among others. In 2019 floods in Maharashtra and Karnataka too this happened in Krishna basin. So, the minister’s statement post disaster is surprising.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 220724: Why are Under construction hydro and dam projects excluded from dam safety regime?

July 22, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Flash flood ravaged HCC’s batching plant along Alaknanda river at under construction Vishnugad Pipalkoti HEP site in Chamoli district. Image source: Social Media)

As we saw in stories in last week (e.g., Luhri HEP in Himachal Pradesh) and see this week (Vishnugad Pipalkoti in Uttarakhand and Dibang HEP in Arunachal Pradesh), a number of under construction projects regularly face disaster, which includes deaths and destruction on large scale. We have been narrating stories related to disaster at such projects regularly in the past too.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 240624: India to help Bangladesh conserve Teesta River

June 24, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

The news this week that India and Bangladesh have agreed for India to help Bangladesh conserve the Teesta River that flows from India to Bangladesh. We hope this development is taken to its logical conclusion soon in terms of implementation of the project as soon as possible. This has the potential to not only two nations working together on conservation and rejuvenation of the Teesta River, but also possibly other 53 shared rivers. However, it would have been better if the W Bengal government would have been briefed, taken into confidence and involved in the discussions. History tells us that the cooperation efforts do not succeed without the involvement of all the stakeholders.

The formation of Joint Technical Committee to initiate discussions for the renewal of the Ganges Water Sharing treaty 1996 that will expire in 2026. One hopes that all these happen with a benevolent disposition from India as this has the potential of creating a much stronger bond between the two countries. A good example is the 1996 Ganga treaty that was also signed with a benevolent disposition. This move can also help strengthen the relations across South Asia as both Nepal and Bhutan are hoping to export hydro-electricity to Bangladesh via India.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 100624: Global research suggests: shun big dams, big hydro

June 10, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: 120 Mw Vyasi HEP dam on Yamuna river in Vikas Nagar, Dehradun. SANDRP/June 2024)

Two separate reports this week shows why we need to shun big dams, big hydro. The New York Times, based on several research papers have said that unstable water cycles are making big hydropower projects unreliable. This is clear this year from a number of countries, including India, China, Canada, Turkey and Ecuador among others. The report also emphasizes the loss of biodiversity, methane emissions, submergence, among other issues plaguing the hydropower projects.

Another report quoting Stanford University study says that big reservoirs cannot meet future water storage needs and we need to go for alternative, nature-based storage options. Alternative storage options like soil moisture, aquifers and local water systems. Such storage options also provide “the critical synergy between water infrastructure, climate adaptation, and agricultural resilience.”

Both are highly eminently relevant for India. When will we start adopting such options?

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DRP News Bulletin

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

June 3, 2024February 28, 2026 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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