Dam wrong (Hindustan Times 26 September 2010)

At 2PM, sitting on a small stool on the bank of a furious river, Bora is tipsy with the local brew. Tending to customers buying his wares — betel nut, paan, cigarettes etc — he is at his philosophical best: “We are waiting to be destroyed by the deluge. Anyway, who gives a damn?” he spits out his betel juice.
Not everyone is resigned to fate. Keshab Chattradhara, a local youth, is a key activist of the Peoples’ Movement for Subansiri and Brahmaputra Valley, a anti-dam NGO that started work a decade back. “If the dam over the Subansiri breaks, for 54 km, there will be 34 feet high waves that will rage on for 35 minutes, carrying a catastrophic 2,59,000 cubic metres of water every minute.”
And those figures of doom are for just one dam, the 2,000 Megawatt Lower Subansiri hydroelectricity project. A gargantuan network of 168 dams is being built, in various stages of construction, across Arunachal Pradesh. This network is expected to generate 63,328 MW of power.
All this is being done in brazen disregard for environmental and safety norms. For one, in seismic terms, Arunachal Pradesh lies in the Very High Damage Risk Zone, having seen 87 major and minor quakes in 67 years (1929 -1993), besides flash floods and a recent phenomenon of cloudbursts. “We are aware of the concerns. So the government is on to promote hydropower projects as run of river instead of big dams as far as possible,” says Dorjee Khandu, chief minister, Arunachal Pradesh. “Efforts are also on to cause least disturbance to the ecological balance.”
Meanwhile, MOUs have reportedly been signed already for more than 140 dams. Once completed, the projected annual revenue from various hydropower projects in Arunachal would be to the tune of Rs. 7,468 crore by the end of the 13th Plan period.
“The Lower Subansiri project lies on a major fault zone. There is no way a mega dam is feasible here. If this is the manner in which the dam network will be built, we are headed for nothing but a catastrophe,” says Ranju Duarah, who heads the Geo-science division of the Assam-based Regional Research Laboratory.
UPSTREAM UPROAR
With 94 per cent of the land area under forests and a low population density of 13 persons per sq km, Arunachal is among India’s most pristine regions. “The local tribal population is 7 lakh only, 4 lakh are outsiders. If 168 projects are set up, at least 5 lakh outsiders will come in. We will get marginalised in our own land and become another Assam or Tripura. This cannot be allowed,” says Ojing Tasing, advisor, All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union. Still at a nascent stage, the Lower Subansiri project has already employed more than 2000 non-local people. “No one is against development. But we do not want this kind of development. It will destroy the heart and soul of Arunachal,” he says.
Khandu refutes: “Such apprehensions are not true. The developers have been directed to use heavy machineries instead of manpower and the required labour force shall be from amongst locals. Labour brought from outside shall have to go back as soon as the projects are completed.”
The green cover in the populated areas is largely due to the traditional shifting cultivation, where the soil is left alone for a certain period to rejuvenate itself. “Such a massive dam network will totally disrupt peoples’ way of life, the culture, demography, and the delicate ecology,” says Tapir Gao, a former Lok Sabha MP. There are questions being raised like the consent of the local communities.
“Not a single strip of land or water body in Arunachal is free. In accordance with traditional laws, local tribes own everything. Now the land is being handed over to private companies by the government without any consultation with the local people,” says Gao.
DOWNSTREAM DEVASTATION
“The lower Subansiri project was started without a thorough study on the downstream impact. And the story is the same for the entire network of 168 dams. So people downstream are in the panic mode,” says Chattradhara.
In June, an expert committee comprising scientists and researchers had clearly recommended against the construction of dams at the present sites due to environmental, socio-economic and geological concerns. It had also categorically questioned the incorporation of adequate safeguards.
“Brahmaputra is the lifeline of the people of Assam. The entire civilisation is under threat because of these dangerous dams which will curtail normal flow into the river,” says Rahul Loying, a student leader of the Mishing community, a tribe that traditionally inhabits riverine tracts. “The rich flora and fauna downstream will get severely impacted. The rivers bring in a huge quantity of sand. Sand casting, already a huge problem in Assam, will be difficult to control,” says Shashwati Goswami, an activist.
“If the government can scrap the Loharinag Pala dam in Uttarakhand on grounds that Ganges is a holy river, then why not the Lower Demwe dam which is being built just 100 metres away from Parasuram Kunda? It reeks of neo-colonial double standards by New Delhi,” says Akhil Gogoi, an RTI activist and a peasant leader.
Besides being one of the holiest shrines for the Assamese, Parasuram Kunda is also considered the birthplace of the local Deuri tribe. Floodplain households whose mainstay is agriculture, will suffer immeasurably. Moreover during dry season, the water flow in the rivers will be very low which might even restrict the movement through river routes. And during summer, the sudden release of excess water from the reservoirs when the rivers are in spate will result in floods. “Besides destroying swaths of prime agricultural land, the dams will rob the livelihood of 39 lakh fishermen. How many jobs can the government give?” asks Gogoi.
“(Negative impact) can be reduced or eliminated by careful planning, and with incorporation of a variety of measures. The key to their environmental and social sustainability is to explore all possible options and consider the entire basin in question,” says IP Barooah, CMD, North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited.

MOU MESS
Much like the infamous ‘mining’ MOUs, more than 140 MOUs have already been inked between the Arunachal Pradesh government, public agencies and various companies like Reliance, Jaypee, Jindal, Athena, India Bulls, Bhilwara, etc. A clause in one the bipartite MOU copies that is with HT, absolves either party of any responsibility in any manner for the losses arising out of situations like earthquakes, fire, flood, etc. “This is a very nonsensical and absurd clause. Building mega dams in such a highly earthquake-prone area is a prime reason why this network is being opposed. By no means can they shy away from responsibility. If you are going to profit, you have to take responsibility for the life and property,” says Gumjum Haider, secretary general, Northeast East Students Organisation.
INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATION
Strong voices of opposition are also coming from across the international border. “The dam network will cause an alarming water deficit as Brahmaputra provides 50 per cent of Bangladesh’s water. It will lead to death of a riverine civilisation and impact more than 150 million people,” says Muhammad Hilaluddin, chief director, Angikar Bangladesh, an NGO taking up the issue in that country. “The sudden bursting of dam reservoirs in the event of earthquake in the upstream hilly areas might create tsunami like catastrophe for the downstream plains. The earthquake prone zone surrounding the dam is a veritable mega water bomb.” Those voices are not very different from that in Gerukamukh on the banks of the Subansiri. As Bora says: “We will be rootless in our own land.”

'How much will you exploit?’ (Hindustan Times 26 September 2010)
Activist Medha Patkar spoke to Sanjib Kr Baruah on what the dam network in Arunachal would mean. It is said hydropower is renewable, non-polluting and environment-friendly. Why the opposition on just these grounds?
Indian generates 25 per cent of energy from hydro electrieity, but it is not necessarily clean and cheap as claimed. It doesn’t make the air look black like in the case of thermal energy. But it pollutes the river, the environment, destroys prime agrarian land. There are displacements and loss of livelihood of the people living in these areas. Upstream and downstream impacts take place only after the projects become fait accompli. There are forests destroyed and a huge toll on land. The other issue is that there are no proper cost benefit analyses. And in the Northeast, there are questions on seismic vulnerability also.
India has about 5, 000 large dams and till date, not a single large dam has been checked even once by the Planning Commission. Moreover the promised benefits never seem to be reaching the tail end of the community spectrum. You have come back from a visit to some of the dam sites in the Northeast. How do you read the ground level situation?In the proposed projects, there are no viable stakes for the affected people. On top of that, there has been no consultation with local communities. Community consent is very important and crucial. This is not being done in the Northeast. Only the riparian state governments have been consulted, but what about the people? It is a classic case of the industrial economy benefiting at the cost of the agrarian economy. Moreover, how much of power does the Northeast need? A maximum of 6,000 MW. So the rest — out of the total planned 63,328 MW — will be transported to mainland India. How much power will you exploit from one particular region and at what cost? This is exploitative and amounts to internal colonisation. Local populations always should have the first right to resources. You cannot compel them to bear the cost. And now a very powerful grassroots movement is building which has activists, peasants, lawyers, students, scientists, in a single fold that is raising pertinent questions. Not much space has been given in the national media on this as the Northeast is on the political periphery.
So how do you reconcile with the country’s developmental needs?The issue is not power but energy. All other modes need to be explored. It is time for really renewable sources like solar, tidal waves, biomass or even micro dams. For instance, gobar gas has the potential of generating 20,000 MW in India. How have we tried to exploit it? On the other hand, USA has not built a single large dam since 1994 because of a moratorium.Our environment impact assessment mechanism is also making fundamental procedural mistakes. Are we taking transmission and distribution losses into account, as the power in the Northeast will be brought to the mainland? There should be a thoroughly comprehensive cost-benefit study.
It has been pointed that a dam network in the Northeast is of strategic importance vis a vis China?How can that be? China is upstream for most of our rivers. On the contrary, we should be raising issues over China’s plan to build dams across the Brahmaputra as river basins have far reaching national and international linkages.
If these 168 dams do take off, what do you visualise in the future?In the Northeast, the downstream impact will be immense. Already the region is disturbed with insurgencies, illegal immigration, etc. The dam network will add a host of problems to the already existing ones. Rivers will die out, the fragile environment will be in ruins, natural resources-based communities will be destroyed, many livelihoods will disappear. There will be no end to it all really.

Rivers on the run (The Pioneer 24 September 2010)

Ill-conceived projects have unleashed nature’s furyThe massive floods inundating north India, from Uttarakhand and Haryana to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar, are seen by ecologists to be the inevitable fallout of the disastrous policy of colonising floodplains and riverbeds; building embankments that fail to contain swelling seasonal waters; and as in the case of Tehri, mammoth dams at the wrong sites. As Ganga overflows the Tehri dam, built on the confluence of Bhagirathi and Bhilangana, submerging crowded settlements and farmland downstream, and the teeming waters of Yamuna rush towards Delhi and Agra, imperilling the successful hosting of the Commonwealth Games, all the activists, who for years have been warning against the policy of hemming in and altering the natural flow of mighty Himalayan rivers, fed by glacial melt and monsoon rains, feel vindicated. Their worst fears, of Apocalypse, are yet to be realised.The Yamuna has flooded areas in Delhi close to it, compelling people to move out with their domestic animals. The river’s fury demonstrates that the alarm raised over the possibility of a deluge threatening the Games village at this completely inappropriate location has substance. Protective bunds have prevented water from inundating the complex. The advice given earlier by campaigners to renovate existing stadia and Government housing at Lodhi Road and CGO complex as the staple of Games-related infrastructure, instead of beginning from scratch, and that, too, in the hazardous river environs, may prove portentous. For the river seems determined to wreck havoc in areas now colonised but formerly part of its bed and floodplains. Fortunately, the irrational plan to build a London Thames-like embankment along the river was scrapped under pressure from experts, who pointed out that the Yamuna, unlike Thames, was too volatile during the monsoons to allow such a structure to exist. Otherwise, the force of the deluge would have been more severe, especially if the embankment had breached.In view of past incidents of flooding, green campaigners are incredulous that policy-makers never took these into account while planning for the Games. Were they simply short-sighted or were they venal and greedy, hoping to cash in on projects and boost real estate prices in that part of the city? Available data cites August and September as flood-prone months. Major floods involving the Yamuna occurred in 1924, 1947, 1978, 1988 and in September 1995. Now, with incessant rainfall and water-logging disrupting completion of projects, the Sheila Dixit-headed Delhi Government, Delhi Development Authority, Organising Committee and other concerned agencies need to be made accountable for their lapses as the same power caucus has been in the city since India won the Games bid in 2003. Meanwhile, lower reaches of Uttarakhand, western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are bearing the brunt of the overflow from Tehri and tributaries of the Ganga. This should convince policy-makers of the dangers of building large dams upon Himalayan rivers and changing their course. If anything, human interventions to subjugate these great rivers and channelise them for ill-conceived development purposes in contravention of all natural laws seem to spur them to break all bounds. Conservationist Ananda Banerjee pragmatically views floods as the rivers’ bid to reclaim their own lands, which have been lost to indiscriminate colonisation. Trans-Yamuna colonies, Noida, the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation complex at Shastri Park and at Yamuna Bank, Akshardham temple and the Games village all occupy fragile river precincts, and, thus, are exposed to flooding. Since Delhi is located in seismic zone IV, the second most earthquake-prone zone in India, these areas also face the additional danger of quakes, owing to the porous nature of the soil, thereby putting them at greater risk. Just last week, tremors of a quake with its epicentre in Afghanistan were felt in this region. In the case of the Games village, the Delhi Government and DDA cannot shrug off blame for deliberately locating it at a site that conservationists condemned as being hazardous. Earlier, the Delhi High Court in December 2005 had passed an order, meant to protect the river from encroachment by any structure. In the light of this order, litigation against the site of the Games village led the High Court to propose an environmental survey of the site by a committee, to determine whether it was part of the riverbed and floodplains. However, the apex court inexplicably overruled the High Court, allowing the Games village construction. The activists have applied to the apex court to expedite hearing of their review petition.As more water is released from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana into the Yamuna river, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan convener Manoj Mishra observes that it is time that water planning is transferred from engineers to ecologists if such disasters are to be pre-empted.

U.P. flood situation grim (Hindu 23 September 2010)

Moradabad worst-hit; 14 more killed
21,000 take shelter in 195 relief camps
LUCKNOW: The flood situation in the 12 districts of western Uttar Pradesh continued to be grim on Wednesday with Moradabad, which has been inundated by the Ramganga, being the worst affected even as the Ganga, Yamuna, Ramganga, Kosi and their tributaries showed a receding trend.
The situation in Barabanki, Bahraich, Gonda, Balrampur and Maharajganj districts of eastern U.P. was also serious with the Sharda, Ghaghra, Rapti and Burhi Rapti having inundated hundreds of villages.
About 90 people have perished in the floods in the State. (According to PTI, at least 14 persons have been killed in the past 24 hours in flood-affected districts of western U.P., taking the death toll due to rain-related incidents in the region to 270.)
An official spokesman blamed the devastating floods in western U.P. on the heavy rainfall in the neighbouring hill State of Uttarakhand and the water released from the dams. With the major western U.P. rivers, including the Ganga and the Yamuna, in spate, Bijnor, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, Rampur, Budaun and Lakhimpur Kheri districts are reeling under the impact of the floods, he said.
Highway still closed
In Moradabad, flood waters of the Ramganga entered several localities where the water level reached 5 to 6 feet. The floods forced closure of National Highway 24. According to the spokesman, since the water level in the flood-hit town has started receding there is a possibility of NH 24 being gradually opened to traffic. About 60 motorboats and 267 boats have been pressed into service in Moradabad for rescuing the flood-hit population to safer areas. About 21,000 people have been taken to 195 relief camps and food packets were being dropped in the completely marooned villages by Air Force helicopters.
The devastating impact of the floods in western U.P. can be gauged from the fact that a total of 1,032 villages have been hit by the swirling waters of the Ramganga, Kosi, Ganga and Yamuna and the smaller rivers with 47 villages severely inundated and marooned. Over 4.73 lakh people have been hit and 8,515 houses have been damaged.
In eastern U.P., the mighty Ghaghra, Sharda and Rapti have left behind a trail of devastation. The situation in Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich districts has been compounded by the water released into the Sharda by the Banbasa barrage in Nepal and the heavy rainfall in the neighbouring country.
Bahraich district has borne the maximum impact with the Ghaghra inundating hundreds of villages, affecting a huge section of population.

River Gandak breaches embankment in Bihar (Hindu 17 September 2010)

Flood relief operations begin in three affected districts
Breach due to discharge of 182,000 cusecs of water from Valmikinagar barrage near Nepal
Eight National Disaster Response Force teams rush to the affected districts
PATNA: The Saran embankment, under severe strain from the rising Gandak river, gave way on Thursday afternoon causing a breach in a 500-metre stretch of the embankment near Simaria village in North Bihar's Gopalganj district.
The State government, which has been mobilising resources since Tuesday, has started relief operations in the three districts of Gopalganj, Chhapra and Siwan on a war footing.
However, Water Resources Department and disaster management authorities told The Hindu that the situation was under control as the water pressure was “not very strong” and was “gradually easing”.
Principal Secretary (Disaster Management) Vyasji Mishra informed that “a retired line” was being constructed behind the breached embankment at Simaria village in Barauli block to check the flow of the water and preventing it from spreading.
While there had scarcely been any rainfall in neighbouring Nepal (a mere 28 mm in the Gandak catchment area on Tuesday), officials in the State Flood Cell said that the breach was due to a rise in the levels of the Gandak owing to a discharge of 182,000 cusecs of water from the Valmikinagar barrage near Nepal.
Special Secretary (Disaster Management) Satyendra informed that eight National Disaster Response Force teams with more than 25 motor boats had been rushed to these districts.
Food grain allotment
Additional allotment of food grains including 60,000 quintals for Gopalganj and 10,000 quintals for Saran has been made.
State officials further said that all necessary arrangements had been made at camp sites with regards to food, drinking water and sanitation facilities with more than 55 “shelter-camps” being set up in Gopalganj and Siwan as of now.
While authorities have stated that the incident was hardly comparable to the 2008 Kosi deluge, they place the number of people likely to be affected at a conservative 1 lakh.
However, according to information obtained from the State Disaster Management Department, more than 80,000 families comprising a population of around 5 lakh people in the three districts of Saran division would be afflicted in case water spills over National Highway 28.

3 good ideas, all dammed up (Indian Express 17 September 2010)

While the severe rainfall deficit in the upper Yamuna basin last year has been handsomely compensated this year, it has come with a rider of its own. The normal rainfall in the basin has brought with it flood threats ahead of the Commonwealth Games in the capital and has served as a reminder for the government to harness the rainwater flowing down the Yamuna.
The lack of water storage projects in the upper Yamuna basin has long been a concern. The three planned water storage projects, with a total capacity of over 2 billion cubic meters (bcm) storage upstream, are still struggling to get off the ground in spite of the 90 per cent Central funding promised by the government in 2008. “This rainwater is going down the river for want of water storage structures in upper Yamuna river basin. It is flushing the Yamuna river clean, but the three storage projects envisaged several years ago would have saved this precious resource e for use during the lean season and would have minimised the flood threats haunting the national capital,” A K Bajaj, chairman of the Central Water Commission, said speaking of losses incurred due to the storage projects not taking off.
While the severe rainfall deficit in the upper Yamuna basin last year has been handsomely compensated this year, it has come with a rider of its own. The normal rainfall in the basin has brought with it flood threats ahead of the Commonwealth Games in the capital and has served as a reminder for the government to harness the rainwater flowing down the Yamuna.
The lack of water storage projects in the upper Yamuna basin has long been a concern. The three planned water storage projects, with a total capacity of over 2 billion cubic meters (bcm) storage upstream, are still struggling to get off the ground in spite of the 90 per cent Central funding promised by the government in 2008. “This rainwater is going down the river for want of water storage structures in upper Yamuna river basin. It is flushing the Yamuna river clean, but the three storage projects envisaged several years ago would have saved this precious resource for use during the lean season and would have minimised the flood threats haunting the national capital,” A K Bajaj, chairman of the Central Water Commission, said speaking of losses incurred due to the storage projects not taking off.

Rising Gandak waters set flood alarm ringing (Hindu 16 September 2010)

Patna: North Bihar faces the prospect of a severe flood with the turbulent waters of the Gandak putting a huge strain on the Saran embankment near Simaria village in Gopalganj district.
State Water Resources and Disaster Management authorities told The Hindu on Wednesday that the embankment was in an “extremely critical condition” and “could cave in any moment” owing to pressure created by rising water levels of the Gandak due to discharge from Nepal.
“The Gandak has been steadily eroding the 500-metre stretch of the embankment in Gopalganj's Barauli block for the past four days…the situation is indeed grim,” State Water Resources Department Principal Secretary Ajay Naik said from Gopalganj.
Alarmed at the prospect of a destructive deluge, villagers from at least 10 villages in and around Simaria have begun leaving their homes since Monday, with their livestock and valuables in tow.
The State Government sounded a high alert on Monday as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held an emergency meeting with the Chief Secretary and authorities from the disaster management, water resources and road construction departments and directed operations on a war footing.
While disaster management authorities refused to confirm the number of villages which might be afflicted in the event of an embankment “cave-in”, reports placed the number at a possible 200 in 7-8 panchayats in and around Barauli block.
Special Secretary (Disaster Management) Satyendra informed that rescue operations were under way with five National Disaster Response Force teams, including one from Orissa, being rushed to the spot of the possible breach.
Authorities said motor-boats for patrolling and guiding rescue operations were being deployed, while National Highway 28 near Gopalganj is under a strict vigil.
Yamuna level likely to decline (Hindu 16 September 2010)
The water in the Yamuna continued to flow above the danger mark on Wednesday and at 5 p.m. the level was 205.78 metres. Officials said the level would rise a little at night but start decreasing by Thursday morning.
An Irrigation and Flood Control Department official said the water level will remain largely constant for sometime before rising again to 205.82 metres.
Relief expected
“There will be a slow decrease in the level initially, but from Friday onwards we expect more relief. The river will climb down from the present levels in another 48 hours unless there is more rain in the catchment areas and more discharge from Haryana,” the official said.
The official said the maximum discharge of water from Haryana's Hathni Kund barrage on Wednesday was around 53,000 cusecs.Experts said the 2,65,000 cusecs of water released into the river has led to the rise in the level, but is not likely to create a flood-like situation