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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Maharashtra Irrigation Act 1976 exists for 49 years without Rules!
Guest Article by: Pradeep Purandare
A PIL (152 / 2014) has been filed by this author before the Aurangabad bench of Mumbai High Court way back in 2014. Maharashtra Irrigation Act, 1976 (MIA 1976) is not being implemented in letter & spirit, thanks to the absence of Rules of MIA 1976. It is needless to add that Act/Law states the general principles and Rules give the necessary details required for the actual implementation of the Act. For example, Act only says that Water Use Rights may be given to all farmers in the command area as prescribed. Rules of the Act, however, give the details to answer the usual questions like How? How much? When? Where? To whom? Application / Agreement required? Applicable terms & conditions? etc. Rules reduce the scope for discretion and chances to interpret the Act in different manner by different individuals at different times & places. Rules facilitate smooth & uniform implementation of the Act.
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June Aug 2024: District wise rainfall in India’s SW Monsoon
In the just concluded month of Aug 2024, India received just 295.2 mm (162.7 mm or 36.2% below normal in Aug 2023[i], 263.8 mm in Aug 2022, 3.5% above the normal[ii]) or 15.8% above normal rainfall of 254.9 mm as per India Meteorological department (IMD). In Aug 2021, the rainfall was 195.9 mm[iii], about 24.13% below normal and in Aug 2020, the rainfall was 327 mm[iv], or about 26.6% above normal.
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Avoidable flood disaster from unaccountable Sardar Sarovar operation: Why was River Bed Power House stopped since Sept 6?
The avoidable flood disaster brought in Gujarat and upstream Madhya Pradesh, starting from the night of Sept 16, 2023 by unaccountable operation of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) Dam has created unimaginable impacts for lakhs of people in several districts, the full contours of the damage are still not fully available. But another intriguing aspect of this man-made disaster has come to light. Shockingly, there was no power generation at the 1200 MW River Bed Power House (RBPH) of the SSP from Sept 6 to Sept 16. This not only means loss of power generation of about 270 million units (MU), worth over Rs 80 Crores even at low price of Rs 3 per unit), but also it would have meant release of 1200 cumecs or, 42000 cusecs and over ten days, this would have meant reduction of about 12000 cumecs or 4.2 lakh cusecs from peak discharge for 24 hours, and this itself would have hugely reduced the flood disaster.
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June July 2022: District wise rainfall in India’s SW Monsoon
In the just concluded month of July 2022, the second month of India’s South West 2022 monsoon, India received 327.7 mm rainfall, 16.8% above the normal July rainfall of 280.5 mm as per India Meteorological department. In July 2021, the rainfall was 266.1 mm[i], about 6.7% below normal and in July 2020, the rainfall was 257.1 mm[ii], or about 9.9% below normal.
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Mahim Kelwa Dam leakage in Maharashtra: Another case of negligence
Heavy water leakage has been detected from the Mahim-Kelwa dam at Zanjroli in Palghar district, Maharashtra causing danger to a few villages situated downstream, officials said on Saturday, Jan 8, 2022.[i] A massive three-metre breach was detected on Saturday morning in a 41-year-old earthen dam with a 3.34 Million Cubic Meters capacity at Zanzorli in Palghar.[ii] About 1200 litres per minute was being discharged downstream.
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June July 2021 District Wise SW Monsoon Rainfall in India
In the just concluded month of July 2021, India received 266.1 mm rainfall, that is 6.73% below normal July rainfall of 285.3 mm, as per India Meteorological Department (IMD). This is in contrast with June 2021 rainfall, that was almost 11% surplus over Normal rainfall. Not only that surplus has been wiped out by the July 2021 deficit, the overall June July 2021 rainfall now is 449 mm, or about 0.7% below normal rainfall of 452.2 mm, as per IMD.
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June 2021: District wise rainfall in India’s SW Monsoon
In the just concluded June 2021, the first month of India’s South West 2021 monsoon, India received 182.9 mm rainfall, 10.96% or about 11% more than the normal June rainfall of 166.9 mm as per India Meteorological department. In June 2020, the rainfall was 196.9 mm, or about 18% above normal and in June 2019 it was 33% below normal.
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Pre Monsoon 2021 season – State Wise, District Wise Rainfall
In the just concluded pre monsoon season (March 1 to May 31, 2021) India received 155.2 mm rainfall, 18% above the normal rainfall of 131.7 mm as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD). This is similar to the case in 2020[i] when India received 158.5 mm or 20% above normal rainfall.
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District wise Winter 2021 Rainfall in India
In the just concluded Winter Season (Jan 1 2021 to Feb 28 2021), as per India Meteorological Department (IMD), India received 32% below Normal Rainfall. The Normal rainfall in this two-month season is supposed to be quite low at 40.8 mm, but the actual rainfall was just 27.8 mm, which means rainfall was less than 0.5 mm per day in the season. Out of this the Rainfall in January 2021 was 20.2 mm, 17% above the normal rainfall of 17.3 mm. So in February 2021, the rainfall was 7.6 mm, against the normal rainfall of 23.5 mm, so the February rainfall was 68% below normal!
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SANDRP 