Dam proponents are promoting Sardar Sarover as \"the lifeline of Gujarat.\" They say the project will irrigate large swathes of land, gener- ate electricity and provide drinking water to the thirsty cities of this dry state in western India. If completed, the project will displace more than 300,000 people, including many indigenous communities in the Narmada Valley. The World Bank approved US$450 million in loans for Sardar Sarovar in 1985 even though the project did not comply with the government\'s conditional environmental clearance. Under strong public pressure, the World Bank withdrew from the Narmada Valley in 1993. India\'s Supreme Court ordered the project to be suspended in 1995, but later allowed construction to continue under the condition that the displaced people were properly rehabilitated.
The Narmada myths
by Peter Bosshard, Frontier, 05 April, 2009
Change in scope of the project The proposal to build this huge length of embankments was clearly not part of the original proposal for clearance for the project. The EIA and EMP used for the public hearing and also the ones submitted before the clearance given by MEF on 25.10.2005 and 25.4.2006 did not include the proposal to build the embankments now proposed to be built in Orissa and Chhattisgarh. The proposal to build the embankments changes the basic scope of the project. Hence the new project proposal must go through fresh EIA and EMP and also public hearings in all affected districts including in Orissa and Chhattisgarh as per the EIA notification of 2006, before the project can be reconsidered for EC. Hence the current application should be rejected. 2. Land required in Orissa and Chhattisgarh A very large area of land will be required for the embankments, which includes:v For Embankment For the land on which the embankment is to be built, including freeboard, we estimate that at least 425 ha of land will be required in the two states of Orissa and Chhattisgarh v. For mining of materials required for the embankments over 10 million cubic meters of homogenous soil of suitable quality and at least 1.1 million cubic meters of metal (coarse and fine) is required. The mining sources for these materials are yet to be identified. However, it will require large quantity of land for mining of this material, which will be over 100 ha.
Objections to EC for Polavaram Multi Purpose Project
by Swarup Bhattacharya, The India Water Portal, 13 February, 2009
A map of Alaknanda river basin, with locations and available details about the various hydropower projects and dams, existing, under construction and planned in the basin is given on page 5 of this issue. Alaknanda meets Bhagirathi at Dev Prayag and from there Ganga emerges. During the last few months we have seen some justifiable concerns about the fate of the Ganga River, but unfortunately, those concerns were limited to Bhagirathi river and that too upstream of Dharasu in Uttarakhand.
Fate of Alaknanda worse than that of Bhagirathi
by SANDRP, Dams, Rivers & People, 01 February, 2009
Methane emission from Indian Large Dams This study estimates that total methane emissions from India’s large dams could be 33.5 million tonnes (MT) per annum, including emissions from reservoirs (1.1MT), spillways (13.2 MT) and turbines of hydropower dams (19.2 MT). Total generation of methane from India’s reservoirs could be 45.8 MT.The difference between the figures of methane generation and emissionis due to the oxidation of methaneas it rises from the bottom of a reservoir to its surface.
19% of India’s Global Warming emissionsfrom Large Dams Myth of large hydro being clean shattered (again)
by , Dams, Rivers And People, 18 May, 2007
Bagmati is an important River of Bihar, which descends down the Himalayas and enters India in the Sitamarhi district of Bihar. The capital of Nepal,Kathmandu, is located on its bank. Its basin is among the most fertile regions of the world, which is mainly attributed to the silt that the river brings along with its flows. The river joins the Kosi near Badla Ghat in Khagaria district Bihar. It has a total catchment area of 13,279 sq. km. Of which 6,246 is located in India and the rest lies in Nepal. The ground slope through which the river passes in the Indian portion is almost flat and ranges from 0.87 meters per kilometer near Indo-Nepal border and in lower reaches; it gets flattened to about 0.07 meters per kilometer. Heavy silt load and flat gradient of land causes meandering of the river in the Indian plains which results in seasonal hardship to the people living in its basin.
The Return Of Embankments On The Bagmati
by Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Barh Mukti Abhiyan, 01 February, 2007
This booklet argues that the Polavaram Dam Project should not go ahead because it will not deliver the benefits claimed for it, because it represnts an extraordinary waste of public money, and it will have disastrous consequences fo rthe people it displaces. Key Pounts: 1. Polavaram dam is economically unviable. 2.It will adversely affect the Andhra Pradesh budget for decades. 3. Tha dam will take resources from other vitally needed infrastructure. 4.The supposed benefits of the dam will be a reality only to a few people in Andhra Pradesh.
Why Polavaram Dam must not be built
by Tony Stewart & V Rukmini Rao, Gramya Resource Centre for Women, 01 January, 2006
Dikes and dams, levees and anicuts, storm surge barriers and tanks-- these are thick things.1 Most of them are thick in size, such as the hundreds of kilometers length of dikes to keep the water out of the Netherlands. (Some things were not thick enough though, such as the levees to keep the water inside the Mississippi River and the New Orleans canals in 2005.2) All of them are thick in connections and linkages: like the anicuts that form crucial starting points for networks ofirrigation canals and tanks in South India. All of them are thick with values, such as the Oosterschelde storm surge barrier that is hailed as a celebration of modern environmental democracy in the Netherlands.
Dikes and Dams, Thick with Politics
by Wiebe E. Bijker, CEC Order, 15 November, 2007
Though it does not strictly fall within the purview of the CEC to examine the effectiveness of the R&R Plan, we are of the view that the present project is comparable with Sardar Sarovar Project in terms of the magnitude of the displacement of persons and that a proper rehabilitation plan, adherence to the time schedule for its implementation, a strong mechanism for monitoring its implementation including involvement of independent agencies and linkage of the implementation schedule with the progress made in the rehabilitation of the project affected persons is a pre-requisite.
CEC regardingconstruction of Indira Sagar Project (Polavaram Project),
by M. K. Jiwrajka, Government of India, 15 November, 2006
1.Movements against dams on the back-foot but still ongoing and emerging in other places 2. Lack of proper clearance mechanism by MoEF or planning commission 3. Strategies adopted appear to be: struggle, intervention in environmental decision making process, inter-state dispute, river-basin assessments, Courts and judiciary 4. Cost overruns o Backwater and hydrology 5.The emerging need to study the downstream impacts of various projects 6. Post-dam struggles either for rehabilitation and resettlement or in command area on water utilization 7. Inter-linking of rivers 8. SEZs and industrialization are going to influence dam industry
Minutes of Meet On Dams
by Neeraj Vagholikar,Clifton Rozario,Leo Saldanha, Abhayraj Naik, Arpita Joshi, ESG & ALF, 21 January, 2007
The legal status of forest land (774.26 ha) and grass land (107.21ha) as stated in the DPR are not clear. It should be mentioned either as Reserved Forests or as Revenue lands. Land value differs for each category. If it is a RF then compensatory afforestation has to be done in non- forest lands of equal extent identified by government. The cost per ha is about Rs. 50000-00 per ha. This has to be paid by KPCL to Forest department.
Gundia Hydro Electric Project: Issues of contradictions and contentions
by Himanshu Thakkar, Dams Rivers & People, 01 August, 2008
The Hirakud dam operators were forced to release over 4.62 lakh cusecs on 19 Sept, 7.91 lakh cusecs on 20 Sept and 5.72 lakh cusecs on 21 Sept, because the water level at Hirakud dam has already reached the Full Reservoir Level of 630 feet on Sept 18, 2008, which should have been reached that level twelve days later on Sept 30, 2008. And the water level at Hirakud has reached the full level so fast because the operators had consistently kept the water level very high, way above the recommended level, right from Aug 1, 2008.
Wrong Operation of Hirakud Dam Responsible
by , Dams Rivers & People, 01 August, 2008
For several decades following 1947, the modern large dam in India presented itself as a political conundrum, often voiced in strange, contradictory tones. In an oft-quoted speech in July 1954 Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister (1947–64), likened the large dam to a “modern temple.” Later, in a less remembered speech before a gathering of engineers and technocrats in 1958, Nehru, as if in contrition, bemoaned the quest for big dams as a “disease of gigantism.”
Framing India’s Hydraulic Crisis The Politics of the Modern Large Dam
by Rohan D’Souza, Monthly Review, 01 July, 2008
It may be recalled that on June 30, 2008 the Government of India committed itself to “suitably ensure perennial environmental flow in all stretches of river Bhagirathi.” This commitment was made in response to a representation of the Alumini Association of IIT- Kanpur to the Prime Minister of India requesting his intervention in the fast-unto-death undertaken by Dr. G.D. Agrawal – a former Dean of IIT-Kanpur -- to ensure the natural and uninterrupted flow of the Bhagirathi river between Gangotri and Dharasu (Uttarkashi). Subsequently the Ministry of Power, GoI, directed Shri R.S. Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director of NTPC, to constitute a high level expert group.
High Level Expert Group Lacks Required Expertise
by , , 28 August, 2008
The Bhakra case study also claims that due to the Bhakra dam, Punjab and Haryana have achieved 100 per cent electrification. However, the latest official figures (Ministry of Power) show that 5.74 lakh rural households of Haryana and 4.05 lakh rural households of Punjab are yet to be electrified. Here a quote from the autobiography of K.L. Rao, India\'s then irrigation minister, after a visit to the dam full 11 years after commissioning of the Bhakra project is educative: \"The village of Bhakra on the bank of the river Sutlej was submerged. The Dam resulted in great suffering to the people of the village, but nobody took note of the people\'s representations. I found that the new village of Bhakra had neither drinking water nor electricity though surrounded by blazing brilliant lights.\" But the authors\' account of the social impacts of the projects does not mention any of these and is, on the contrary, full of errors and omissions. Such negligence put question marks over the credibility of the multipliers and other conclusions that the book arrives at.
A Product Of Politics On Big Dams
by Ramesh Bhatia, Dams Rivers & People, 01 August, 2008
  1. The Ganga’s Last Roar
  2. Central Empowered Committee Order