Open forum
New Delhi, 28 October 2015
Chinese
Dam
JUDICIOUS
APPROACH VITAL
By
Dhurjati Mukherjee
A 510 MW Chinese hydroelectricity
hydroelectric dam became operational on the Brahmaputra,
in mid-October, the Xinhua news agency announced. This Zangmu Hydropower
Project in Tibet, just 550
km from the Indian border, has been connected to China’s national power
grid. Apart from reduced flow of water to India, the possible impact
on Upper Siang and Lower Subansiri in Arunachal Pradesh will be adversely
affected, warn river experts. This
apart, China is working on
five more dam projects on the Brahmaputra which obviously means that India has to be
vigilant as river flows to the intermittently operational turbines creates huge
variations on a daily basis in downstream flows.
With water availability already a
problem, this obviously could have a devastating impact on aquatic life and
displace riparian population. One may mention here that way back an
inter-ministerial group had advised the government in 2013 to intensify
monitoring of river flows from upper to lower reaches of Brahmaputra
in view of the dangers posed by this dam. Apart from the one already announced,
there are two other dams – Jiexu and Jiacha – within 25 km of each other which
are possibly under construction.
The Chinese announcement has
triggered a fresh controversy regarding whether setting up of dams is at all
necessary in view of the people’s resistance witnessed in the country. Recall,
few months back the Water Resources Ministry had instructed the Central Water
Commission (CWC) not to give its nod to any new dams in future if these don’t
ensure uninterrupted flow of water. Apart from cleaning the Ganga,
unless water flow is uninterrupted – which may be possible only after the
cleaning operations are complete – dam construction would be of no use. The
concerned minister, Uma Bharati, has been emphasizing the need for maintaining
e-flow (ecological flow) of the river as water storage/withdrawal by dams
invariably affects the flow of the river, making it vulnerable.
Bharati’s ministry is particularly
against the six hydro power projects in Uttarakhand which, it thinks would
affect the flow of the Ganges. The same is the
case with the Brahmaputra and the dams
proposed may affect the river flow which would not be sufficient to feed the
dams in the North East.
Experts have warned that the
government appears to be making the people of Arunachal Pradesh a pawn in the
run on between India and China. It is
known that there have been widespread protests and agitations in this State,
Uttarakhand and others regarding construction of dams as this would lead to
displacement of local communities, submerge valuable forests and the areas
would be exposed to the risk of earthquakes.
Some experts believe that dams in
the North East, and specially in Arunachal, may benefit cities in the plains.
There is, however, no justification in the reported plans to set up around 120
dams in A.P. A group called the Forum for Siang Dialogue opposed dams on the
beautiful Siang River. Moreover, work has been stalled
on the 2000 MW Lower Subanisiri Project due to local opposition to its
construction.
The social and environmental costs
have always to be kept in mind and both dams and hydroelectric projects,
wherever absolutely necessary and vetted by reliable experts, should always be
of medium size. Thus, it goes without saying that dam construction in the North
East and in Arunachal specifically has to be restricted.
To meet the needs of the corporate
sector and the growing user classes, the government has encouraged a scramble
for resources in tribal areas of Central India
and the North East. However, it needs to adopt a grassroots approach and
not fall prey to the machinations of the corporate world. This would prove
dangerous in the coming years as lop-sided development would automatically lead
to violence and social unrest.
Take the case of Odisha which had
virtually no Naxalite problem around 17 years back but the result of taking
away of tribal land, sometimes forcibly, to give to mining companies triggered
off the movement. Though there has been some industrial progress, at the
grassroots level it is abysmal with the standard of living of tribals not
seeing any improvement.
On the other hand, while there is
resistance against construction of big dams, both medium and small dams may be
necessary for generating electricity and increasing the irrigation network. The
latter may help in increasing food output which, in turn, would facilitate the
water demands in the lean seasons of the year. Thus, dams may only be
constructed after a thorough review of the pros and cons.
While energy demands have to be met,
the first priority should be to use modern techniques to reduce transmission
losses as well as usage of less energy-intensive technologies. Hydroelectric
power has little or no pollution impact but its feasibility with regard to the
other issues involved has to be balanced.
The initiatives of the government
pertaining to aviral dhara
(continuous flow of water) and nirmal
dhara (clean water) may become difficult with regard to the Brahmaputra as the water flow would get affected in the
coming years when all the three Chinese dams become operational. This would add
to the water woes of the entire North East which undoubtedly is a matter of
grave concern.
In fact, there is need to seriously
consider whether India
desperately can shift from a narrow engineering-construction-centric approach
to a multi-disciplinary participatory water management perspective. Experts
believe that huge benefits are possible in irrigated area without the need to build
more dams, adopting participatory irrigation management through water user
associations (WUA), pioneered in some irrigation commands in Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
Undeniably, once farmers themselves
feel a sense of ownership over water, the process of operating and managing
irrigation systems undergoes a profound transformation. The WUAs collect
irrigation service fees, whose structure is determined in a completely
transparent and participatory manner, from their members. Collection of these
fees enables WUAs to undertake proper repair and maintenance of distribution
systems and ensure that water reaches the farm gate.
In such a situation, India should
refrain from emulating the Chinese example and instead follow a judicious
approach. As dams displace people and raise ecological problems, the approach
should be to go in for smaller run-of-the-river schemes, or dams, that can take
care of irrigation which is of primary necessity at this juncture. What is
indeed surprising is that despite the 12th Plan allocation of Rs 6,000 crore
for the National Irrigation Management Fund (NIMF), neither the UPA nor the NDA
has notified the fund.
At present, the message given by the
Water Resource Ministry is that it understands the perils of dam-building in
the Himalayas and is committed to uninterrupted water flows in the Ganga. It is to be hoped that it will adopt an approach
that could add millions of hectares to irrigated land without building a single
new dam, something that becomes economically viable, environmentally sustainable
and socially inclusive and better alternatives to mega projects. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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