Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Mapping of rivers under consideration
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BHUBANESWAR: Orissa is contemplating mapping all river systems in the State on various parameters in the wake of pollution being perceived due to release of waste water by industries and urban local bodies into rivers.

“While allocation of river water for agriculture and industrial purposes is a highly debated subject, quality of river water is slowly emerging a major concern. We are thinking of preparing indices for each river,” State Forest and Environment Secretary Aurobindo Behera said one the sidelines of a seminar here on Sunday.

“We would like to know where we are on different parameters such as quality, quantity, usage and discharge of waste water being released into river water by industries and urban local bodies,” Mr. Behera said.

The Forest and Environment Secretary said the present policy and enforcement mechanism to tackle river pollutions also needed to be reexamined.

“Moreover, urban centres are expanding across the State. The daily effluent being generated from cities are also dumped in rivers. It will create a problem in future,” he said.

The State government has signed a memorandum of understanding with private companies for close to 100 projects including steel manufacturing, thermal power and alumina refinery.

According to industries department, about 30 projects in the steel sector have started partial production in addition to about 100 sponge iron units. Most of the upcoming industrial and mining projects are coming up depending on water in rivers like Mahanadi, Brahmani and Baitarani.

http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/25/stories/2011042561790400.htm

Friday, April 15, 2011

River Linking

India priortises 5 river interlinking projectshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Out of a total 30 river linking projects, the government has shortlisted five including the Godavari-Krishna and Dawan-Ganga-Pinjal schemes
Published on 04/15/2011 - 09:52:54 AM

Kolkata: The central government is currently giving priority to five river interlinking projects, including the Godavari-Krishna and Dawan-Ganga-Pinjal schemes, a senior official said.

"There are a total of 30 river linking projects. We are now giving priority to five," Central Water Commission Chairman AK Bajaj said.

The five projects include Ken-Betwa rivers interlink between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Par-Tapi-Narmada rivers and Dawan-Ganga-Pinjal rivers between Gujarat and Maharashtra, Chambal-Kali-Sindh rivers between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and Godavari-Krishna rivers between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Bajaj said.

According to him, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra have agreed to share water with other states, but states like Orissa and Chhattisgarh were raising some issues, reports IANS.

On India's water sharing with other countries, Bajaj said: "Our country has water sharing treaties with all SAARC nations, except Sri Lanka."

"Nepal is not sharing water with us, but Bhutan is pragmatic in water sharing as 50 per cent of the country's gross domestic product comes from selling electricity," Bajaj added.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Polavaram Politics

Chhattisgarh to file petition in SC soon
BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar April 05, 201http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif1, 0:39 IST

No difference of opinion with Orissa, says Chhattisgarh minister

The row over the controversial Polavaram project is set to intensify further with the Chhattisgarh government bracing itself to file a petition in the Supreme Court of India, keeping in view the interests of its affected people.
"The negotiations with the Orissa Chief Minister were optimistic. There is no difference of opinion with the Orissa government on the Polavaram project. We are soon going to file a petition in the Supreme Court keeping in view the concerns of the people of our state to be affected by the project", Vikram Usendi, minister (forest, public enterprises & public grievances), Chhattisgarh government told media persons after emerging out of a meeting with the Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

"We don't have any difference of opinion with the Chhattisgarh government as far as the Polavaram project is concerned", said Suresh Mohapatra, principal secretary (water resources), Orissa government.

Meanwhile, the hearing on the Polavaram project in the apex court has been deferred till next Monday. The Andhra Pradesh government today filed the names of three experts- M Gopalakrishnan, B M Ahuja and J Hassan with the apex court.

It may be noted that on last Friday, the Supreme Court had pulled up the Andhra Pradesh government for its failure to submit names of experts in connection with the Polavaram project within the time-frame stipulated by the court.

The Orissa government has already filed the names of experts with the apex court.

The members of the expert committee constituted by the Orissa government are Anil D Mohile, former chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC), D K Goswami, professor of IIT-Delhi and M Perumal, professor of IIT-Roorkee.

In accordance with the direction of the Supreme Court, Orissa had constituted a three-member expert committee to examine various issues pertaining to the controversial Polavaram project.

The Orissa government had approached the Supreme Court on September 4 last year, challenging the Centre's decision to give final environmental clearance for the project.

On October 4 last year, the apex court had asked the Government of India to file its response within a month to the petition filed by the Orissa government in connection with the controversial Polavaram project.

In its suit, Orissa had sought a declaration that Andhra Pradesh had no right or entitlement to undertake or proceed with the Polavaram project on the Godavari river. It had also stated that embankments were not permanent solutions to effectively contain submergence during floods.

Moreover, the extent of submergence due to design flood (which had been revised to 50 lakh cusecs from the original 36 lakh cusecs by the CWC itself) and the backwater effect along the Sabari and Sileru limbs (flowing through Orissa territory into the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh) had been finalised by the CWC without estimating the flood contributions from these limbs separately by following any rational procedure or acceptable norm, according to the petition filed by the Orissa government.

As per the estimates of the state government, the project was likely to submerge 2119.38 hectares of land in Naxalite-affected tribal areas of Malkangiri .
Chhattisgarh delegation meets Odisha CM over problems of drinking water in Jagdalpur

Report by Orissa Diary correspondent; Bhubaneswar: A high level delegation from Chhattisgarh meets Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik at Bhubaneswar on Monday. The delegation of Chhattisgarh has discussed with the Chief Minister on Monday in the Orissa Secretariat on the problems of drinking water in Jagdalpur of Chhattisgarh.

The Chief Minister has directed to construct two barrages on IndrĂ¢vati river and Ghora canal. The funds will be given by the Chhattisgarh government for construction of above two projects. After construction of abovetwo projects, the drinking water problem of Jagdalpur will be solved.

The delegation of Chhatisgarh headed by the Minister of Forest Bikram Ussendi discussed with the Chief Minister. Secretary of Water Resources Suresh Chandra Mohapatra and other senior officers were present at the time of discussion.