Tag: Mula-Mutha

WFD 2025: Mass Fish Death in Indian Rivers
Dams · Fish, Fisheries, Fisherfolk

WFD 2025: Mass Fish Death in Indian Rivers

SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Thousands of fish found dead in Mula-Mutha river near Naik Bet, a river island at Bund Garden in last week of Dec. 2024. Source)

Indian rivers continue to witness mass fish death incidents all through the year 2025. Most of these incidents we were able to track have occurred in urban rivers across the country including Mula-Mutha in Pune, Yamuna in Delhi, Gomti in Lucknow and Varuna in Varanasi. Mass fish mortality cases have also happened in streams passing through Nalagarh & Pithampur industrial areas of Himachal Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh. These streams are part of Sutlej-Ghaggar-Yamuna-Chambal river basins & have been facing large scale fish death for years.

Continue reading “WFD 2025: Mass Fish Death in Indian Rivers” →
DRP NB 020924: HYDRA to protect water bodies in Hyderabad – a landmark move?
DRP News Bulletin

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

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.

Continue reading “DRP NB 020924: HYDRA to protect water bodies in Hyderabad – a landmark move?” →
DRP NB 120824: Chalakudy community demand Prudent Dam Management Plan
DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 120824: Chalakudy community demand Prudent Dam Management Plan

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.

Continue reading “DRP NB 120824: Chalakudy community demand Prudent Dam Management Plan” →
DRP NB 120623: Tip of Karnataka irrigation scam?
DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 120623: Tip of Karnataka irrigation scam?

SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: A decade old Amul caricature on Rs. 70, 000 crore irrigation scam in Maharashtra.)

It’s not very frequent that irrigation scams come to light. Somewhat inadvertently, the Karnataka irrigation scam seems to be getting exposed when the newly elected state government stopped two irrigation projects in the constituency of the irrigation minister of the previous state government, the Gatti Basavanna Dam and the Ammajeshwari Lift Irrigation Project. In both cases, the department officials are saying that they prepared the project reports based on instructions from above. In both cases, the costs proposed at one stage were 3 to 9 times higher than the revised estimated cost.

One only hopes that the government, media and the judiciary will go to the bottom of these revelations and bring to light the full dimensions of what seems like a tip of the Karnataka Irrigation Scam. It is public knowledge that Karnataka has been spending tens of thousands of crores each of the last few years in the name of big irrigation or dam projects, without commensurate benefits.

Continue reading “DRP NB 120623: Tip of Karnataka irrigation scam?” →
Top Ten River Front Development Stories 2022: Destroying Rivers, Livelihoods
Urban Rivers

Top Ten River Front Development Stories 2022: Destroying Rivers, Livelihoods

SANDRP2 Comments

(Feature Image: Work on Rs. 700 crore Chambal RFD project in Kota which is supposed to be ready by Dec. 2022 end. Image Source: Free Press Journal)

The Central and various state governments have been pushing big budget River Front Developments (RFD) projects as panacea for all the urban water woes. In reality, these are River destruction projects with the objective of encroaching on river floodplain and even river beds of Urban Rivers. These RFDs have been failing to deliver on proposed claims and resulting in waste of public money apart from causing more damages to urban rivers eco-system and livelihoods of dependent communities. The projects are also multiplying the Urban Flood potential. In reality, India urgently requires an Urban River Policy as a subset of Urban Water Policy to guide how to treat urban water and urban rivers.

This compilation highlights situation of ten such RFD projects in the country which are failing miserably and facing stiff resistance from concerned citizens and dependent people during last one year or so.

Continue reading “Top Ten River Front Development Stories 2022: Destroying Rivers, Livelihoods” →