Most Indian languages have a saying which goes something like: “Do not go looking for a river’s origin or a Rishi’s lineage”. I thought this was because these stories become eclectic and frankly scandalizing as we trace them. But while looking at several origins of River Godavari on the Brahmagiri Mountain, I realized that the meaning can be much simpler (or much complicated): It is difficult to decide on a single origin for a river.
Continue reading “उगम: Story of Godavari and Vaitarna’s Origin”Tag: Godavari
DRP 290124: Wetlands and Human Wellbeing: So little reflected in wetlands governance
(Chest nut clutivators removing water hycinth from Giri taal of Kashipur in US Nagar, Uttarakhand in April 2023. Bhim Singh Rawat/SANDRP)
As the world approaches the World Wetlands Day on Feb 2, we notice a proliferation of news related to wetlands, but mostly bad news in this week’s DRP NB: Loktak lake in Manipur facing impact of inland waterways project, the Supreme Court having to intervene for the Futula lake in Nagpur, TN Govt telling NGT that 38% of Pallikaranai marshland is under encroachment, in Bangalore, NGT is asking for response from KSPCB and others regarding the lake buffer zone encroachment. There is also a lot of bad news about the worsening state of our rivers, including Ganga.
One piece of good news is that people have come out with their own plan for restoration of Ennore wetland in TN. In Assam, Maguri Motapung Bill is regaining biodiversity after earlier being polluted by oil spill, but that is only control of damage earlier. Similarly, while it is good news that SC has intervened to protect Futula lake in Nagpur, but the fact that the govt wanted to encroach on it in the name of “temporary” construction is not at all good news.
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DRP NB 010124: Looking back at 2023 as we welcome 2024
As we welcome the new year on its first day, it is also worth looking back at the year just gone by. Some of the major trends of 2023, relevant to us here were: Larger number of dam disasters, including spillway disasters and hydropower project disasters; more severe dam flood instances including in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, among others; rather low hydropower generation, raising questions about dependability of hydropower projects; very huge number of pump storage projects getting sanctioned by the Expert Appraisal Committee of MoEF on River Valley Projects, raising question mark over their viability; record breaking high temperatures and changing rainfall patterns with 5.5% deficit rainfall in SW Monsoon and 19% below normal rains in Post Monsoon period; increasing trend of unregulated sand mining with media more frequently using the term sand mafia; increasing instances of disastrous urban floods including Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi; river front development getting pushed even as people’s protests like in Pune increasing; question marks about compromised decisions of the Expert Appraisal Committee that includes people involved in conflict of interest.
There have also been numerous positive developments, including the successful mission to rescue the 41 workers trapped in Silkyara tunnel even though question mark about the disaster remains; High Court asking that the reports related to the sinking Joshimath; Meghal river revival effort by communities in Gujarat as reported in this bulletin; Dibang Resistance getting the Bhagirath Prayas Samman and beginning of decommissioning of the biggest dam in US, among others.
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2023: EAC & FAC Decisions on Dams, Hydro, Irrigation Projects
(Feature Image: Yamuna river deprived of e-flows downstream 120 Mw Vyasi HEP dam in Dehradun, Uttarakhand in June 2023. Bhim Singh Rawat/SANDRP)
This annual overview examines minutes of meetings held by Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for River Valley and Hydropower Projects between 15 December 2022 and 24 November 2023 for consideration of Dams, Hydroelectric Power (HEP), Pumped Storage Hydro Projects (PSP) and Irrigation related proposals seeking Terms of Reference (TOR) and Environment Clearance (EC) approvals. The report further analysis various water projects related proposals considered by the Forest Appraisal Committee (FAC) between 27 December 2022 and 18 December 2023 for Forest Clearances (FC).
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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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DRP 131123: Another Himalayan Disaster: 40 workers trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand
(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.
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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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DRP 021023: Why this culture of opaque governance around Joshimath?
(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.
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DRP 250923: World Rivers vs Indian Rivers on Rivers Day 2023
(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.
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