-The Hindu Though the Union Environment Ministry acknowledges its damage, Uttarakhand's hydroelectric project-driven development agenda remains unchanged Chaaen, a village atop a hill in the picturesque Alaknanda Valley, is infamous for getting a hydroelectric project into trouble. I first visited the village last year while covering the worst flood disaster Uttarakhand had witnessed. On June 26, 2013, as I stood at Narendra Singh's verandah in Chaaen, I noticed how the walls had developed...
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Govt admits hydropower projects aggravated 2013 Uttarakhand floods -Utkarsh Anand
-The Indian Express The Centre on Monday admitted for the first time that hydropower projects had "direct and indirect impact in the aggravation of floods" that hit Uttarakhand in 2013, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. It also said that the projects caused "irreversible damage" to the environment and enhanced landslides and other disasters. Filing its affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) conceded that "the...
More »Nod to Dibang project shows why present forest clearance process needs to be scrapped -Chandra Bhushan
-Down to Earth Persisting with the current institutional arrangement will do more harm than good The manner in which the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has agreed to divert 4,578 hectares (ha) of prime forestland to construct the 3,000 MW Dibang multipurpose project (DMP) has yet again convinced me of the need to replace the present system of granting forest clearances. FAC, in its...
More »When all the boards did shrink -Himanshu Upadhya
-Hard News Floods in Kashmir could have been managed better if there was a reliable early warning system The first fortnight of September saw Jammu and Kashmir being ravaged by severe flash floods. But, according to the snatches of news we got, the monsoon was below average in the state until the last week of August. Thereafter, four days of incessant rain in the Valley and in Jammu made almost all the...
More »Chronicle of a tragedy foretold -Himanshu Thakkar
-The Hindu No agency provided any prior warning about the massive floods in Jammu and Kashmir "What suddenly caused Jammu and Kashmir to be ravaged by floods?" is now the raging question. As families of victims struggle to come to terms with the large-scale impact of the tragedy and as people all over the country attempt to understand the reasons for it, it remains to be seen how deep this concern really...
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