DRP NB 271123: India Rivers Week 2023

November 27, 2023November 27, 2023 SANDRPLeave a comment

(IRW 2023 organizers, participants visiting Pun RFD project on Nov. 26, 2023. Image Source: India Rivers Forum)

The Tenth India River Week function was organized at BAIF, Pune on Nov 25-26, 2023, with participation of over a hundred people. The focus of the event was on Pune River Front Development (RFD), being pushed by Pune Municipal Corporation, and RFD in other cities around India, and it was strongly critiqued and opposed at the meeting, including by Bhagirath Prayas Samman winners Sarang Yadwadkar and Jeevit Nadi. A field visit of the participants was also organized to the proposed site of the work of the project. (Also see: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/greens-criticize-approval-rfd-project-pune/articleshow/105523479.cms)

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 140823: A year after Karam dam disaster: people suffer, engineer set free, contractor building more dams

August 14, 2023January 3, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Breach in Karam dam, Madhya Pradesh. Source:- Social Media)

It was on Aug 13, 2022, a year ago when the Karam dam wall in Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh started leaking water. Two days later it collapsed. The people who suffered during the disaster continue to suffer. The engineers who were supposed to ensure proper construction of the dam, following all the norms, did not do that, were supposed to be suspended, but got reinstated elsewhere. They kept quiet in the courts. The black listed contractor continues to build more dams.

A clearer evidence of the nexus that supports unwanted, destructive, costly, corruption ridden and disastrous dams would be difficult to find. As the destruction due to dams and such other unaccountable infrastructure development plays out in Himachal Pradesh & elsewhere this year, the nexus that thrives on opaque, unaccountable and non-participatory governance continues to happily grow even as the changing rainfall patterns bring greater disasters before our eyes.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 050623: Manoj Misra, a True River Warrior Is No More, Salutes to Manoj ji!

June 5, 2023June 5, 2023 SANDRP2 Comments

(Feature Image: Late Manoj Misra speaking at India Rivers Week seminar in Delhi in Nov. 2018. Source: IRF)

As we mark the World Environment Day 2023; India has lost one of the staunch river crusader Manoj Misra, the convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan (YJA). He has been driving force behind formation and functioning of India Rivers Forum (IRF) a platform dedicated for the rejuvenation and restoration of rivers in India. IRF work started in 2014 and 2023 is the tenth year of annual India Rivers Week meetings focused on rivers. Bhagirath Prayas Samman and Anupam Mishra Medal for exemplary media work on rivers are part of India Rivers Week.

He was hospitalized for over a month due to COVID & related complications and breathed his last on June 4, 2023 afternoon in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. His sudden demise is a great loss for all river lovers, experts, activists in the country. Down to Earth, resourceful, open-minded, academician, people’s rivers scientist are few words but not enough to describe the personality of Manoj Misra.

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