On the 30th of April 2020, a large portion of a steep mountain in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh slipped down to village Pangi destroying apple orchards and killing one Nepali migrant worker. This area in the high Himalayas, falling in the Satluj Valley, which is known for its geological and ecological vulnerability, is also the site of Stage 1 of the 243 MW Integrated Kashang Hydropower Project, which is already operational. Stage II, III and IV are yet to be constructed close to the same location and have faced massive opposition from the local tribal population on the grounds that these will spell doom for their lives, livelihoods and biodiversity. Continue reading “Integrated Kashang Hydropower project in geologically fragile and ecologically diverse, tribal area Kinnaur, Himachal”
Tag: Himachal Pradesh
Are we ready to use more water from snow melt in Indus basin this year?
Union Water Resources Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has recently said that the snow this year on Himalayan peaks is the highest in 50 years, and reservoirs like Bhakra, Pong, Ranjit Sagar, Ramganga, Tehri, etc will receive very high water inflow from snowmelt during summer and SW Monsoon.[i] This is in fact the third warning this year on this issue. Earlier on Feb 27, 2020 and then again on May 4, 2020, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) provided the same warning to its partner states. However, neither the Union Minister & BBMB, nor the partner states seem ready or doing anything to prepare for the unprecedented situation that the dams and rivers may bring in ongoing summer and coming SW monsoon.
In fact the situation is similar to the one that happened twice at Bhakra-Pong-Ranjit Sagar Dams last year[ii]. Even then not only there were massive floods, but the water flowed away to Pakistan, totally against the declared pronouncements and policy of Indian Government leaders including the Prime Minister. Continue reading “Are we ready to use more water from snow melt in Indus basin this year?”
Himachal Pradesh sand mining 2020: No Replenishment study, district foundation
Himachal Pradesh is a hilly state where large scale, mechanized mining of riverbed minerals has been going on for past many years. The damaging impacts on rivers, streams and dependent communities are evident and on the rise. However the state government has failed to bring any change in the scenario as can be seen in this overview covering the related developments during 2019-20.
Continue reading “Himachal Pradesh sand mining 2020: No Replenishment study, district foundation”
Cloud Bursts in Himachal Pradesh in Monsoon 2019
Cloud burst incidents are emerging as a major threat for the Himalayan states. Of late, the extreme weather event have been causing large scale destruction in ecologically sensitive and remotely located vulnerable hilly areas. In 2018 between May 2 and July 20, the Uttarakhand state saw around 13 cloud bursts event which have increased to 23 in 2019 monsoon season resulting in wide scale damages.
This compilation for Himachal Pradesh state shows that the state is suffering even bigger destruction of infrastructure including roads, buildings, bridges and hydro projects due to increasing cloud burst events. At the same time the monitoring and mitigation efforts are totally insufficient and inadequate.
Continue reading “Cloud Bursts in Himachal Pradesh in Monsoon 2019”
44% above normal rainfall in Oct 2019 creates hopes for Rabi, Disaster for Kharif crops at many places
The Oct 2019 rainfall all over India was 109.7 mm, 44% above normal expected rainfall of 76 mm, following 53% above normal in Sept 2019. The rainfall this month has been unusual and has had some major impacts. One of the reasons has been that the SW monsoon withdrawal continued well into Oct 2019, when it almost always gets over by the end of Sept. There were also several cyclonic circulations and depressions mostly from Arabian sea. Continue reading “44% above normal rainfall in Oct 2019 creates hopes for Rabi, Disaster for Kharif crops at many places”
SW Monsoon 2019: District wise rainfall in India
The first blog on just concluded South West Monsoon 2019, gave the national picture and broad picture of month wise, state wise, sub division wise and river wise rainfall. This blog provides some details of rainfall in districts of each of the 36 states and Union Territories (UTs) of India. Continue reading “SW Monsoon 2019: District wise rainfall in India”
Overview of CWC Flood Forecasting Sites 2019: North India
Flood forecasting is an important activity during monsoon, considering the huge and increasing flood prone area, flood frequency, intensity and flood damages. Accurate and timely flood forecasting can hugely help reduce the damages due to floods. Central Water Commission (CWC) is the only agency responsible for flood forecasting in India. To understand the CWC’s flood forecasting better, we have compiled the list of the various flood, inflow forecasting sites and flood monitoring sites in India.
In this compilation, we have given state wise list of CWC’s flood forecasting, flood monitoring and inflow forecasting sites in North India, comprising of states of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh. It includes available details like name of river, sub basin, Warning level (WL), Danger Level (DL), High Flood Level (HFL), Full Reservoir Level (FRL), Maximum Water Level (MWL), as applicable. As we see below, there are many gaps in this basic information for the sites that are part of CWC’s list. A similar zonewise overview of CWC’s sites was compiled in 2018, which can be seen here. Overview of CWC Flood Forecasting Sites 2018: North India. We have brought this updated compilation for 2019 as there are large number of changes as ou can see.
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Himalaya-friendly groundwater governance
Guest Blog by Chicu Lokgariwar
In January 2019, the NGT rejected the Centre Groundwater Guidelines for a variety of reasons. It cited several shortcomings, several of which had already been pointed out on this blog, such as the fact that the water conservation fee would give those who had paid it carte blanche to withdraw excessive amounts of water and the lack of monitoring of pollution of groundwater. In addition to the shortcomings cited by the NGT, do the guidelines take into account the special needs of the Himalayan states? SANDRP spoke with people who have been working on groundwater in the Indian Himalayas to understand what the region’s needs are. Continue reading “Himalaya-friendly groundwater governance”
Sand Mining 2018: Is Illegal Sand Mining A National Menace?
We have presented through separate articles, overview of sand mining issues of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana-Andhra Pradesh, East India and North East India, in addition to one on murders, violence, threats and infrastructure damages due to illegal sand mining. This compilation tries to throw some light on the sand mining related issue of 2018 in remaining states with the help available media reports.
Continue reading “Sand Mining 2018: Is Illegal Sand Mining A National Menace?”
Feb 2019 Hailstorm, Snowfall Affects Life in Northwest India
Since the beginning of 2019, there have been couple of incidents of hailstorm in Haryana and Punjab. The region has also seen good rainfall in January. The hilly states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand have been repeatedly facing heavy snowfall events gripping the large parts of North India in cold waves.
The initial rains and snowfall were seen usual events and considered as beneficial for rabi crops and water demands. However the unusual hailstorm accompanied by heavy rainfall In January 2019 and again on Feb 7-8, 2019 have caused significant damage to standing crops in large part of Haryana, Punjab and Western parts of Uttar Pradesh.
Continue reading “Feb 2019 Hailstorm, Snowfall Affects Life in Northwest India”
SANDRP 