उत्तराखंड: जब मेरे गांव में बादल फटा

August 3, 2020August 3, 2020 SANDRP2 Comments

कमल पंवार का अतिथि लेख

28 जुलाई के सबेरे तीन बजे के आस पास गाँव में कोलाहल मच गया। भारी बारिश के बीच गाँव के ऊपरी हिस्से और बगल वाले गदेरे में अचानक भारी गाढ़ आ गई। कुछ ही देर में तेज गर्जन से मलबे की धारा गाँव के पास से होकर गुजर गई और अपने पीछे बर्बादी का भयानक मंजर छोड़ गई।

क्षेत्र के बारे में

मैं चमोली जिले के बूरा, पडेर गाँवों की बात कर रहा हूँ। ये गाँव तिमदो तोक, विकासखंड घाट में पड़ते हैं। इन गाँवों की कुल आबादी लगभग 5000 है। केवल बूरा गाँव ही लगभग 2 किलोमीटर के क्षेत्र में चार अलग-अलग भागों च्याना, चांजलि, सीमार बसा है। बूरा से ऊपर की ओर उत्तर पश्चिम दिशा में पडेर गाँव लगभग दो किलोमीटर दूर है।

Continue reading “उत्तराखंड: जब मेरे गांव में बादल फटा” →

Uttarakhand: Finally, Yamuna illegal bridge gone. But will govt learn?

August 2, 2020August 2, 2020 SANDRP2 Comments

Finally, Uttrakhand government on July 25, 2020 has removed illegal mining bridge on Yamuna river in Haripur, tehsil, Dehradun. The bridge across the Yamuna River was built by the illegal sand miners on culvert pipes in the last week of May 2020 hindering the river flows. It is not clear if the state government took any punitive or deterrent steps against those responsible, or did the government just quietly removed the bridge at its own expenses.

Continue reading “Uttarakhand: Finally, Yamuna illegal bridge gone. But will govt learn?” →

Monsoon · Rainfall

District wise Rainfall in India in June July 2020

July 31, 2020July 31, 2020 SANDRP2 Comments

During the just concluded first half of the South West Monsoon 2020, India received 453.3 mm rainfall, just 1.1 mm above the normal rainfall of 452.2 mm during the period. The Surplus of 18% rainfall that India received in June 2020 has thus been wiped out by the 9.9% deficit in July rainfall. Normal rainfall in July 2020 is 285.3 mm, while actual rainfall was 257.1 mm. IMD does not provide monthly figures of rainfall for different states, sub divisions and river basins, which it should along with comparison with respect to normal rainfall and rainfall last year.

To get July 2020 rainfall, we will need to use the figures given in this article along with the figures of June 2020 rainfall (see: https://sandrp.in/2020/06/30/district-wise-rainfall-in-india-in-june-2020/). The district wise figures of June-July 2020 rainfall can be seen in this PDF file from IMD: IMD DISTRICT WISE RAINFALL FROM JUNE 1 TO JULY 31 2020.

Continue reading “District wise Rainfall in India in June July 2020” →

Dams · Yamuna River

Uttarakhand govt must remove illegal bridge on Yamuna to prevent flood disaster

July 11, 2020July 23, 2020 SANDRP1 Comment

Locals of Vikas Nagar tehsil in Dehradun have shared revealing and disturbing images and videos of riverbed mining activities done in Yamuna river over past couple of months. Though in wake of ongoing monsoon the mechanized extraction of riverbed minerals (RBMs) has seen a halt since July 01, 2020, the miners have left an illegally made makeshift bridge on Yamuna river. And that’s cause of worry for local people.

“Since May we have been requesting local administration not to allow deep, in-stream and mechanized mining in Yamuna river compromising rivers flow as it could change river course and create damages during floods. But all our pleas fell on deaf ears”, says a local villager on the condition of anonymity.

He further says that, a causeway bridge built across river in the last week of May 2020 to transport the minerals has been left unattended which could lead to a flood disaster if not safely removed immediately.

Continue reading “Uttarakhand govt must remove illegal bridge on Yamuna to prevent flood disaster” →

Indian Meteorological Department · Monsoon · Rainfall

District Wise rainfall in India in June 2020

June 30, 2020July 1, 2020 SANDRPLeave a comment

Here we present the rainfall figures from India Meteorological Department in the just concluded month of June 2020, the first month of SW Monsoon 2020. The overall rainfall at all India level in June 2020 was 196.2 mm, 18% above normal rainfall in the month at 166.9 mm. It was 33% deficit last year.

This is India’s wettest June 12 years, The Times of India reported on July 1, 2020. Agriculture Ministry Data shows that sowing is 68% higher at 31.56 m ha. The June rainfall was 202 mm in 2008, the rainfall this year is the highest since then. All four IMD regions (Northwest, Central, South, East & NE) have recorded surplus rainfall, the surplus is the highest in Central (30.5% surplus) and E-NE (15.7%) regions. North West India had the lowest surplus at 3.5%. IMD Head Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that whole of India was covered by monsoon on June 26, 12 days ahead of the normal date of July 8.

State wise rainfall Three states had large excess rainfall (above 60% surplus rainfall), namely Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim. Eight states/UTs (Union Territories) had excess rainfall (20-59% surplus): Assam, Meghalaya, UP, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh & Andaman and Nicobar. Nine had deficient rainfall (20-59% deficit): Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Manipur, J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Dadar & Nagar Haveli. Rest of India had Normal Rainfall. Continue reading “District Wise rainfall in India in June 2020” →

Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 22 June 2020: Seven years after Uttarakhand Disaster: Any lessons learnt?

June 22, 2020June 22, 2020 SANDRP2 Comments

This past week we just completed seven years since the worst ever flood disaster in Himalayas, the Uttarakhand-Himachal Flood disaster that got launched with the massive unseasonal rainfall during June 15-17, 2013, along with the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood from Chorabari glacier upstream from Kedarnath. It was a massive wake up call.

To briefly recall, that unprecedented rainfall occurred when monsoon had not even set in Uttarakhand and neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. The first thing that strikes about this disaster where by official accounts over 6000 people died and by unofficial accounts over 20 000, is that we do not even have a comprehensive report from the government about this disaster. It would have told us a lot of things, including what we can learn from this disaster.

Second big thing that strikes is that big dams and hydropower projects, both due to their construction and operation impacts, both completed and under construction projects played a big role, as brief SANDRP video films in English and Hindi shows. But we continue to play with the Himalayas, the Ganga and lives of the lakhs of people by pushing more dams and such destructive activities (e.g. Char Dham Highways) in the fragile mountains without even honest impact assessments.

Continue reading “DRP NB 22 June 2020: Seven years after Uttarakhand Disaster: Any lessons learnt?” →

Rainfall

State wise rainfall Pre Monsoon 2020 & Post monsoon 2019

June 5, 2020February 28, 2021 SANDRPLeave a comment

India Meteorological Department (IMD) divides a water year (June 1 to May 31) into four seasons: Monsoon: (June 1 to Sept 30), Post monsoon (Oct 1 to Dec 31), Winter (Jan 1 to Feb 28/9) and Pre Monsoon (March 1 to May 31). For rainfall during all these seasons, IMD’s hydro-meteorological website[i] provides a lot of data on daily basis, including daily district wise rainfall, state-wise, sub division wise and river wise daily rainfall maps among many other weekly, monthly and seasonal products. However, one problem with it is that none of this information is archived. So if you missed seeing or downloading available data on any date, there is no way to look at it even next day. This is even true of the seasonal rainfall maps, unfortunately.

Most observers look at the monsoon rainfall data, which is clearly the most important season, without doubt. However, the rainfall in other seasons is also very important from a number of perspectives.

Here we are giving a detailed account of the pre-monsoon season rainfall that India received in the season just ended on May 31, 2020, including state wise, sub division wise, river wise and also district wise figures. Along with it, we also provide the figures of post monsoon figures for the just concluded water year. For the winter season (Jan-Feb 2020) we have only the figures for Jan 2020 since we missed downloading the Feb 2020 figures. We had already provided the monsoon 2019 figures through two blogs in October 2019[ii].

Continue reading “State wise rainfall Pre Monsoon 2020 & Post monsoon 2019” →

Dams · Water

विश्व पर्यावरण दिवस 2020: उत्तराखंड में गांव के जल स्रोतों के संरक्षण में जुटे पोखरी के युवा

June 5, 2020 SANDRPLeave a comment

उत्तराखंड के पर्वतीय इलाकों में प्राकृतिक जल स्रोत हजारों गांवों की जल जीवन रेखा है। इन्हें पन्यारा, नौला, छौई, धारा इत्यादि नामों से जाना जाता है। यह जल स्रोत प्राचीन समय से ही गांव में पीने एवं अन्य घरेलू आवश्यकताओं के लिए जलापूर्ति का मुख्य जरिया रहे हैं।

दुख की बात है कि बदलते दौर, जीवनशैली में आए बदलाव और पाइपलाइन आधारित पेयजल आपूर्ति के चलते, ये धरोहर पहाड़ समाज की अनदेखी और सरकार की उपेक्षा का शिकार हो रहे हैं। अगर इन जल स्रोतों को सहेजा जाये तो ये आज भी उतने ही प्रभावी एवं उपयोगी साबित हो सकते हैं। पौड़ी गढ़वाल के पोखरी गांव के युवाओं का इसी दिशा में एक काबिलेतारीफ प्रयास है। विश्व पर्यावरण दिवस 2020 की थीम प्रकृति का समय [i] के अवसर हमने महसूस किया कि इन युवाओं का प्रयास सबके सामने उजागर किये जाने लायक है।

Continue reading “विश्व पर्यावरण दिवस 2020: उत्तराखंड में गांव के जल स्रोतों के संरक्षण में जुटे पोखरी के युवा” →

Dams · Water

WED 2020: Uttarakhand workers return to revive traditional water sources

June 4, 2020June 5, 2020 SANDRP5 Comments

Traditional water sources have been water life line for most of villages in hill areas of Uttarakhand. Known as Panyar, Naula, Chhoi, Dhara these fresh water sources, springs have been serving rural population with potable and other domestic water requirements since time immemorial. We thought this is possibly an appropriate story on this World Environment Day 2020 on June 5 with appropriately fitting theme “Time for Nature”.[i]

Sadly, with changing time, lifestyle and introduction of tap water facilities these water sources and structures have been facing negligence of users and apathy of government. These time proven water sources can still serve the people if restored and taken proper care by village communities. The story of Pokhri village in Pouri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand is a step in this direction.

Continue reading “WED 2020: Uttarakhand workers return to revive traditional water sources” →

Dams · Yamuna River

Yamuna Riverbed Mining: Miners, Govts throw rule book in river

May 28, 2020May 28, 2020 SANDRP2 Comments

Latest and disturbing images taken on May 27, 2020 display brazen riverbed mining in Yamuna river in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The images related to Vikas Nagar stretch of river show that miners have not only created a temporary bridge across the riverbed to transport mined material but also using heavy machines to dig the riverbed. In the process the river flow has been impounded at the location.

Sources reveal that active river channel is being compromised by in-stream mining operations. It is learnt that the mining is being done hardly 300 meters from Haripur bridge connecting Vikas Nagar to Kalsi.

Continue reading “Yamuna Riverbed Mining: Miners, Govts throw rule book in river” →