Salun village, perched roughly 50 feet above the Ravi River, had its moment of fame on the 26th August 2025 — a moment that also became its last. On the dark, rainy afternoon, the small village with homes, rajma fields, apple orchards and cattle sheds collapsed into the flooded River Ravi like a house of cards. In a matter of 30 minutes, ancestral homes with warm hearths, blankets for the coming winter, old report cards and wedding albums, adhar cards and bankbooks-entire archives of living-were erased. Villagers, who managed to escape in time stood in awe and saw their village going extinct before their eyes.
Continue reading “The Day Salun Village Fell: Impacts of Cascading Hydropower Projects in the Ravi Basin”Tag: Ravi River
Aug 2025: Ravi Flood Damages Madhopur Barrage Gates in Punjab
(Feature Image: 2 gates of the Madhopur Barrage washed away on Aug 27, flooding parts of Pathankot & Gurdaspur.)
A severe flood spell in Ravi river has damaged at least three flood gates of Madhopur barrage in Pathankot district of Punjab. The incident occurred in the evening of Aug 27, 2025 amid an effort to open the jammed gates of the barrage. The situation became critical after 2.12 lakh cusecs of water discharged from the upstream Ranjit Sagar Dam (RSD) dangerously increased the flood level at the barrage on Aug. 26.
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Blood on Sand: River Sand Mining in South Asia
The insightful River sand mining focused South Asia meeting titled “Blood on the sand: dangers of riverbed mining in South Asia” was held on Dec 11, 2020. It was one of the off shoots of the IRW 2020 held dialogues on River Sand mining in India. One of the underlining theme that reverberated through the presentations was again that people on ground must have a role in governance of sand mining, considering the failure of governance of river sand mining by all concerned departments and governments. While the discussions brought out a number of scientific insights, the role of scientific studies and assessment was another key point emphasised by all.
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SANDRP 