Tag: rivers

DRP 070725: Demand for Commission of Inquiry on Hydro Obsession in Himachal
Climate Change · Dams · Hydro Power Projects · Rivers

DRP 070725: Demand for Commission of Inquiry on Hydro Obsession in Himachal

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(Feature Image: Flood ravaged Priyadarshini HEP in Manuni khad in Dharamshala, Kangra. Source: Social Media)

Hydropower obsession, Himalayan failure The massive hydropower push, another legacy of post-1990s liberalisation, has amplified vulnerability. Dams have mushroomed across river basins in Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba, and Kullu — with scant regard for ecological thresholds. Muck from these construction sites is routinely dumped into riverbeds, narrowing channels and raising riverbeds. When the rains arrive, this loose muck turns into a lethal force, taking down everything in its path. The hydropower model — built on the assumption of perpetual revenue — has neither delivered long-term employment nor sustainable energy. Instead, it has left behind ecological scars, displaced communities, and made vast swathes of the state more disaster-prone.

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DRP 30 June 2025: Dam Safety concerns arise as monsoon sets in
Climate Change · Dams, Rivers & People

DRP 30 June 2025: Dam Safety concerns arise as monsoon sets in

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(Feature Image: Kabini Dam. Source: WRD, Karnataka)

The SouthWest Monsoon has just set in and dam safety issues are coming up in large number of dams in Karnataka, Telangana, besides dam disasters in Himachal Pradesh. This shows how much more we need to do to assure structural and operational safety of India’s dams in changing climate.

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June 2025: NHPC Parbati II, III HEPs damaged in floods
Climate Change · Cloud Burst · Dams · Hydro Disaster

June 2025: NHPC Parbati II, III HEPs damaged in floods

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(Feature Image: Screen shot of remaining portion of washed away tin-shed of NHPC’s Parbati II HEP)

In addition to severely damaging the Jiwa and Priyadarshini small hydro power projects, the ‘cloudburst’ induced flash floods on June 25, 2025 has also significantly affected the Parbati II & III projects in Sainj Valley of Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh.

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June 2025: Indira Priyadarshini HEP in Himachal: Workers missing, Project damaged
Cloud Burst · Hydro Disaster · Rivers

June 2025: Indira Priyadarshini HEP in Himachal: Workers missing, Project damaged

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(Feature image rescue work in Manuni khad in Khaniyar, Kangra on 26 June 2025. Source: Social Media)

In a tragic incident several workers of under construction Indira Priyadarshini Hydel Project are missing after a ‘cloudburst’ induced flash flood struck the project site on June 25, 2025. The 4.8 Mw (2.4 X 2) small hydro power project is being developed by Indira Priyadarshini Hydro Power Pvt Ltd (IPHPPL) on Manuni khad near Sokani Da Kot village under Khaniyara post office of Dharamshala tehsil in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. Manuni khad is a tributary of Baner River in Beas basin. The construction work started in Dec 2019 & was scheduled for commissioning in May 2026.

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Message after 50 yrs of Gharial conservation: Save Rivers if we really want to save Gharials
Rivers

Message after 50 yrs of Gharial conservation: Save Rivers if we really want to save Gharials

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The Central message after fifty years of Gharial Conservation effort since 1975 is that Gharial’s fate remains precarious. It seems like a species living on borrowed time, forever on the verge of extinction. It is living thanks to a few scientists, forest officials and some riverside communities. And if we really want to save Gharials, we must save rivers, the habitat of Gharials from sand mining, dams and pollution.

If the next 50 years of Gharial conservation are to be more successful than the last, India will need to protect not just a species, but an entire ecosystem. Gharials can be saved only if their habitat, rivers can be saved. India showed the will to save tigers starting early 1970s, but is there a will to save some of the rivers to save gharials?

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Dabhil Mauli: Stories and Struggles of a Small River in the Western Ghats
Forest Advisory Committee · Free flowing rivers · Irrigation · Maharashtra · Ministry of Environment and Forests · Western Ghats

Dabhil Mauli: Stories and Struggles of a Small River in the Western Ghats

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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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DRP 16 June 2025: “Indus River older than its landscape, Himalayas”
Climate Change · Dams · Groundwater · Rivers · Water

DRP 16 June 2025: “Indus River older than its landscape, Himalayas”

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INDUS RIVER: Stephen Alter, in his article “With the River by My Side” says about Indus River that some rivers are older than the landscape through which they pass: “Nowhere is this clash between hydrological and geological history more apparent than along the Indus, as it passed through Ladakh. This seemingly eternal river has followed its winding course since long before the Himalaya were formed, tossing and tumbling over. Boulders, stones and pebbles that the water polishes and grinds into sand. Eroded flanks of the mountains on either side of the river are scarred and twisted by tectonic forces that lifted giant slabs of rock more than eight kilometres into the clouds but failed to block the persistent flow of the Indus. Driving along the highway that runs parallel to the river, from Leh to Kargil, it feels as if the landscape is a timeless epic that the waters of the Indus have etched in stone.”

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DRP 020625
Climate Change · Dams · Rivers · Water · Water Options

DRP 020625

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HYDRO POWER PROJECTS

Jammu & Kashmir In Kupwara district the 12 Mw Karnah in Kishan Ganga sub basin has joined the long list of HEP projects facing reoccurring damages, repeated delays and cost escalation in Himalayan states. The flash flood, landslides and cloudburst disasters in Feb and May 2025 have further damaged the project and extended its completion date.

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DRP NB 260525: Opposition to large hydro as strategic projects
Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 260525: Opposition to large hydro as strategic projects

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(Feature Image: Lahaul Spiti Ekta manch holds a protest rally against hydel projects at Udaipur in Lahaul Spiti on Friday May 23. Source: The Tribune)

Some of the most prominent reports this week are related to wide spread opposition to large hydro projects in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, among other states. Indeed, there is little sense in building large hydro projects as strategic assets as seems to be the case in Himachal Pradesh and J&K (Chenab basin) and Arunachal Pradesh (Siang basin, among others). Use of security forces to complete pre-feasibility survey when local communities are strongly against the project, as is being done in case of Siang Upper Multipurpose Project is clearly counter-productive in so many ways. In Kerala people have again gathered to oppose the destructive Athirapally Hydro projects that they have been successfully opposing since late 1990s. 

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DRP NB 190525: Kaleshwaram Project to be abandoned?
DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 190525: Kaleshwaram Project to be abandoned?

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(Feature Image: Medigadda barrage, part of the Kaleshwaram project, facing structural challenges due to design flaws. DC: File Photo)

One of the alarming news this week is the recommendation of irrigation experts and others to the Telangana govt is to prioritise Tummidihatti project, rather than spending limited available resources on repair of Kaleshwaram barrages: Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla, all part of the controversial and disaster hit Kaleshwaram Project. The reasoning behind the recommendation seems to be apparent difficulty to rehabilitation of the barrages with inherent unstable foundation on sand beds.

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