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Why Is State & Centre Gambling with the Himalayas, the Ganga & Lives Of Working for water resources development as if democracy, people and environment matter Index Vol 13 | Issue 3-5 | April-June, 2015 1. Why is state & centre Two years of Uttarakhand Flood Disaster of June 2013: gambling with the Himalayas, the Ganga Why is state & centre gambling with the & lives of millions? 1 Himalayas, the Ganga & lives of millions? 2. MoWR E-Flows report is Its two years since Uttarakhand • The existing and under construc- welcome, needs urgent faced its worst ever flood disaster tion hydropower projects had in- implementation 12 during June 15-17, 2013. We re- deed increased the proportion of member such tragedies to ensure the disaster. 3. Diminishing Returns that we learn the necessary lessons. • Out of the 24 HEPs in Upper from Large Hydropower So that in future such tragedies are Ganga basin, about which the projects 15 not repeated or their dimensions are 2012 Wildlife Institute of India reduced. One of the enduring de- (WII) report had recommended to 4. Nepal Earthquake: A bates since that the Uttarakhand be dropped, 23 projects should be Himalayan warning 17 tragedy has been about the role of dropped and even the 24th project existing and under construction hy- should go ahead only after signifi- 5. Maharashtra dropower projects in increasing the cant modifications. Groundwater proportions of the disaster. Management Authority: • “… the EB recommends that ter- A lot of water has flown down the Can it lead by example? 26 rain above the MCT3 in general Ganga in these two years, so let us and above the winter snow line revisit the important milestones of 6. Maletha; Redefining in particular (~2200-2500 m) ‘Development’ 29 7. Yamuna Augmentation Within two months of the disaster, a bench led by Justice Canal Breach – Radhakrishnan gave an order on Aug 13, 2013, asking the Union A man-made disaster 30 Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change to appoint an 8. Blow by Blow, How independent panel to assess the role played by existing and under pollution kills the construction hydropower projects in the disaster. Yamuna River 31 should be kept free from the hy- that debate. Within two months of Contact : dropower intervention in the disaster, a bench led by Justice Himanshu Thakkar, Uttarakhand.” This zone is frag- Radhakrishnan gave an order on Parineeta Dandekar, ile in nature due to unpredictable Aug 13, 20131, asking the Union Bhim Rawat, glacial and paraglacial activities. Ministry of Environment, Forests & Ganesh Gaud Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to ap- • The EB recommended a large Dams, Rivers and People point an independent panel to assess number of other actions and stud- C/o 86-D, AD Block, the role played by existing and un- ies, but we are not going into the Shalimar Bagh der construction hydropower details here. Delhi - 100 088, India. projects in the disaster. Ph: + 91 11 2748 4654/5 In May 2014, the MoEF asked the [email protected] The Expert Body (EB) led by Ravi Supreme Court for another commit- http://sandrp.wordpress.com/, Chopra Committee so formed in Oct tee to look into the recommendations of the EB, which, the SC bench, still www.facebook.com/sandrp.in, 2013 gave its report in April 2014. The EB report said2, to recapture headed by Justice Radhakrishnan, http://sandrp.in only briefly: rejected. 1 Dams, Rivers & People April-June, 2015 Justice Radhakrishnan retired from the Supreme Court which requires a detailed technical and scientific on May 14, 2014 and Justice Dipak Misra have headed study.” the bench in this matter thereafter. • MoEF was very clear in rejecting the CEA (Central In June 2014, while remembering the one year of trag- Electricity Authority) and CWC (Central Water Com- edy, we published an article4 showing pictures of numer- mission) report submitted. This minority report ex- ous damaged hydropower projects, possibly for the first pressed dissent with the EB report. The MoEF affi- time. davit stated that these institutes “promotes the hy- dro power projects as their adopted policy, it is found As Business Standard reported5, in August 2014 hear- that this report mainly ing, the court’s focus concerns the potential re- shifted. It asked the gov- alization of hydro power ernment to present a re- The Expert Body (EB) led by Ravi Chopra Committee so generation and does not port on each specific formed in Oct 2013 gave its report in April 2014. The EB deal in the concerns of project, “so that the re- report said, to recapture only briefly: The existing and environmental degrada- port can be appreciated tion, as raised by Hon’ble from proper perspective”. under construction hydropower projects had indeed in- Supreme Court and as- This was divorced from creased the proportion of the disaster. signed by MoEF via its the cumulative impacts TORs. Prima-Facie, this perspective that was nec- 2 member report is basi- essary. cally technical and hydro projects centric and have In Oct 20146, the Supreme Court asked MoEF to hold not carried out any significant and specific study re- discussions with developers of three (three more projects garding environmental degradation post the disas- were added latter on, making the total of six HEPs, a ter in the Ganga-Himalayan basin.” subset of the 24 HEPs that WII had recommended to be • MoEF’s endorsement of EB report was unambiguous: dropped in 2012) to assess what changes they are ready “MoEF&CC therefore, finds merit in main 11 mem- to bring in the projects in view of the disaster, need for bers expert body (EB) report in context of the com- longitudinal connectivity and in view of the earlier WII pliance of directions by Hon’ble court”. and EB recommendations. It turned out that the devel- opers were not ready to bring any significant changes. • Nailing the propaganda that Tehri saved downstream towns, the MoEF affidavit quoted EB report to show So on Dec 5, 2014, the MoEF filed a landmark affidavit the disaster Tehri created in Sept 2010: “In Septem- in the Supreme Court. Some of the noteworthy things ber 2010, to retain flood said this affidavit: inflows in the face of wa- • “…large & small hydro On Dec 5, 2014, the MoEF filed a landmark affidavit in ter levels rising beyond power projects on the the permitted FRL the Ganga & her tributar- the Supreme Court. Some of the noteworthy things said dam authorities had to ies all over the in this affidavit: “…large & small hydro power projects on seek the permission of Himalayas are a the Ganga & her tributaries all over the Himalayas are a the Supreme Court. It led threat to the aviral to inundation of the up- dhara of the Ganga. threat to the aviral dhara of the Ganga. The absence of stream town of The absence of this is this is leading to a serious threat to the biodiversity of the Chinyalisaur and later a leading to a serious Himalayan ecology.” draw down fresh land- threat to the slide zones were created biodiversity of the Hi- around the reservoir malayan ecology.” rim.” • “The (IMD) analysis also mentioned that anthropo- • “The findings of EB report reveal that the damages genic activities has also led to massive over-exploita- during the 2013 disaster were more concentrated/ ag- tion of the local environment, thereby loosening the gravated in the immediate upstream or around or top soil and making the region susceptible to land- mainly on the downstream of existing and under con- slides and flash floods.” struction barrages of hydro power projects.” • It quoted the Supreme Court order of Aug 13, 2013: • Phata Byung HEP “Thus it can be said that the “The cumulative impact of the various projects in Phata-Byung HEP aggravated the damage caused by place and which are under construction on the river the floods.” basins have not been properly examined or assessed, • Singoli Bhatwari HEP “Bank erosion downstream 2 Dams, Rivers & People April-June, 2015 of the barrage could have been due to the project con- Vishnuprpayag HEP at Lambagar and downstream struction… Both these processes cause bank erosion of Srinagar barrage till Bagwan.”7 and flooding. Geomorphic evidence of this process was • MOEF conclusion on role of HEPs in disaster: “It was visible in the relatively wider segment of the commonly observed that all HEP (existing and un- Mandakini valley below the Singoli-Bhatwari HEP der-construction) in the disaster affected areas have and downstream of the power house area.” been significantly impacted and the maximum dam- • Vishnuprayag HEP “The Vishnuprayag barrage age sites, in the disaster affected areas, were located obstructed a very high either just upstream, or intensity debris flow MoEF affidavit of Dec 5, 2014 went on to submit that the around or immediate brought by the Khiron downstream of these Ganga, a tributary of Expert Body plus some four additional members need to HEPs, it is pertinent to the Alaknanda just be given fresh task of doing remaining studies for a year conclude that the there upstream of the before any decisions can be taken about the HEPs across has been a direct and an Vishnuprayag HEP. It indirect impact of the caused extensive de- the Uttarakhand. HEPs in the aggravation struction of public and of the floods of 2013.” private property… Ac- • MoEF conclusion about the 24 HEPs: “That as per cording to EB, the Vishnuprayag HEP is a classic the directions of Hon’ble court, MoEF&CC also heard example of how human structures can alter river the project authorities and representatives of civil morphology during unusual weather events. It is con- society on the meetings held on 15th, 27th, 29th Oct structed in a paraglacial zone.” and 20th Nov 2014 and found that the project wise • Srinagar HEP “EB reported that local eye witnesses approach is not feasible and that carrying capacity and the project authorities seemed to agree that the study, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and flow downstream reduced till about 4 am on June cumulative impact assessment (CIA) must be carried 17th when the highest level of the reservoir was out before any decision could be taken.
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