Uttar Pradesh Yamuna Aug 2024: NGT Com Finds Sand Mining Rules Violated

August 24, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Feb. 2024 screengrab of a video clip shows instream mechanized sand mining going on in Yamuna river during night hours at Mandawar village in Kairana tehsil of Shamli, UP)

A joint committee formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Delhi has found gross violations of several rules in a sand mining project on Yamuna river in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. The joint committee was formed by principal bench on NGT comprising Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Chairperson, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Justice Dr. A. Senthil Vel on May 13, 2024, to ascertain the correct factual position through ground visit while hearing a petition filed by local resident Farukh Chouhan.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 190824: Goa River group win important battle against illegal sand mining

August 19, 2024August 19, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Sand extraction in Mandovi river near Candola bridge. Image Credit: GRSPN)

This is indeed a rare and important victory by Goa River Sand Protectors’ Network (GRSPN) in their long fight against illegal river sand mining in Goa. Following a petition in the National Green Tribunal the state government has agreed to recall all the environment clearances granted by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority.

Goa government has agreed since these clearances were given without a District Survey Report (DSR) as required under the sustainable sand mining guidelines of MoEF. While this may sound like a temporary respite based on some technical violation, the fact is most sand mining clearances across India are given without a credible DSR, but it has not been possible to stop such violations elsewhere.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 120824: Chalakudy community demand Prudent Dam Management Plan

August 12, 2024August 12, 2024 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.

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Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan 080824: Welcome Judicial Decisions for River Floodplain

August 8, 2024August 8, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Yamuna floodplain downstream old railway bridge Delhi. March 2024, SANDRP)

In the past one month there have been some interesting judicial interventions taking up the matters of floodplain, pollution and aquatic eco-system of the Yamuna River in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Of these, the most significant one is the NGT order on July 11 fining MoJS & CWC of ₹50 000 each for the non-demarcation of floodplain in Agra.

The fine was to be submitted before Aug. 06,2024 hearing but there is no update available so far on this. It is also not clear whether Yamuna floodplain has been demarcated and officially notified in Agra stretch or not. Earlier in May 2019 and March 2022, the NGT had asked for demarcation of Yamuna floodplain in Agra and Mathura respectively.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 050824: Cities fail monsoon test

August 5, 2024August 5, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image by Cartoonist Alok/ Sakal, July 25, 2024)

This monsoon has again shown how our cities have been failing the monsoon test for decades. As rightly suggested in the Indian Express Edit this week, main reasons are: outdated drainage systems, planning that is blind to local hydrology and pathetic state of civic agencies. The last factor in fact needs to change to failed governance at all levels. There is no water or flood policy that guides our cities, nor is there any reward for improving governance, nor any penalties for lack of it.

In fact, with better rainwater management, cities can convert this problem into a blessing, both in terms of water security and also improved state of urban landscape. This would be possible if it prioritizes the city’s capacity to hold, store, recharge and drain the rainwater. Instead, the cities are busying destroying such capacities by destroying the rivers, ridges, forests, local water bodies, groundwater recharge capacities and also the drainage capacity.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 290724: Dam Floods need urgent attention

July 29, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Officials said it was very important to identify a dry area for construction of the diaphragm wall and the earth-cum-rock-fill dam on top of it, this being the main dam of the Polavaram project. DC Image)

The floods last week in Pune, with significant contribution from dam releases from upstream has led to Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar directing the water resources department to keep the Khadkwasla Dam only half full to avoid repeat of the floods. While this is welcome and needs to be implemented, it also raises a number of questions.

The phenomena of water releases from dams contributing to downstream floods is not new, it has been going on for decades as SANDRP has been pointing out. Even in 2023 monsoon, several dams were found guilty of this including Sardar Sarovar on Narmada in Gujarat and Bhakra & Pong dams in Punjab (this was highlighted at a meeting in Chandigarh on Saturday by SANDRP and others), among others. In 2019 floods in Maharashtra and Karnataka too this happened in Krishna basin. So, the minister’s statement post disaster is surprising.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 220724: Why are Under construction hydro and dam projects excluded from dam safety regime?

July 22, 2024July 22, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Flash flood ravaged HCC’s batching plant along Alaknanda river at under construction Vishnugad Pipalkoti HEP site in Chamoli district. Image source: Social Media)

As we saw in stories in last week (e.g., Luhri HEP in Himachal Pradesh) and see this week (Vishnugad Pipalkoti in Uttarakhand and Dibang HEP in Arunachal Pradesh), a number of under construction projects regularly face disaster, which includes deaths and destruction on large scale. We have been narrating stories related to disaster at such projects regularly in the past too.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 150724: Celebrating Monsoons

July 15, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: People visit the seaside as dark clouds hover over the city, in Mumbai, Monday June 03. Image Credit: PTI/ Source: TNIE)

It is rather rare when we find anything in media about celebrating our monsoons. We find this week more than one piece about such celebration in various ways including through creating works like Bollywood songs and poetry in various languages of India.

In a detailed article famous Bollywood related author Jerry Pinto writes about the fascinating Bollywood songs related to monsoon and their picturization. He writes that the great tradition seems to be fading out, but hopefully that will not be the case. Incidentally the article should have mentioned the name of one of the best lyricist, author and film maker, Gulzar, who has shown more love for monsoon that possibly anyone else in Bollywood.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 080724: Why IMD & CWC are unable to improve forecasts, reporting & help improve flood management?

July 8, 2024July 8, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Flood-affected people move to a safer place on a boat in Nalbari district on Friday, July 5, 2024. Image Credit: PTI/Source HT)

We are in the thick of monsoon and also flood season. To manage floods, key inputs are accurate forecasts and prompt, accurate, location, river specific rainfall. India Meteorological department has a key role to play in all these aspects that can help us manage floods, as a very pointed Editorial in Indian Express stated in the context of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s flip flops.

The edit referred to the 2021 parliamentary panel report that asked the Centre to set up modern weather stations in the upstream catchment of the Northeast’s rivers and install sirens to alert people downstream of floods. North East and rest of the country continues to lack such systems.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 010724: Time for independent review of Polavaram Project?

July 1, 2024July 3, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Work going on Polavaram Project at Polavaram in West Godavari. DC Image: Narayana Rao, Dec. 2020)

The sequence of events over the last two decades that ended this week with white paper on Polavaram project being released by the newly elected Andhra Pradesh govt underlines urgent need for an independent assessment of the multi-state Polavaram Project on Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh.

The story of the project similar to, though a bit longer than that of the ill-fated Kaleshwaram Project of the neighbor Telugu speaking state of Telangana. Both are ill-conceived, expensive, high impact projects on same Godavari River, both taken forward without sufficient studies and implemented without sufficient checks and balances.

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