Charging Karnataka with “unjustly utilising” Cauvery water for summer irrigation, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, today asked the Prime Minister, Dr Manmhohan Singh, to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to discuss the issue.

Karnataka has been “unjustly utilising” the water for summer irrigation from February to May by depleting the storage in its four major reservoirs, she said in a letter to Dr Singh.

Reservoirs' storage

The risk of there not being enough water in the stream — the ‘hydrology risk’ — is the “single largest risk” that a small hydro project faces, says a study of the rating and analysis agency, ICRA.

The study went into the question of why small hydro projects — projects of less than 25 MW capacity — have not been happening on a scale consistent with the potential in India. It found out that after ‘hydrology risk’, the risk of ‘containment of capital cost’ was the second biggest stumbling block.

NEW DELHI, May 18 – Notwithstanding the controversy over the construction of mega dams in the North-east, the Centre has ruled out the possibility of reviewing the proposals for the construction of the big dams in the region. Union Minister of State for Power KCVenugopal, however, added that the concern of the local people on the safety of the dams including the 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project and 1750-MW Lower Demwe Hydroelectric Project have been given due consideration.

CHENNAI: Charging Karnataka with "unjustly utilising" Cauvery water for summer irrigation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today asked Prime Minister Manmhohan Singh to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to discuss the issue.

Karnataka has been unjustly utilising the water for summer irrigation from February to May by depleting storage in its four major reservoirs, she said in a letter to Singh.

Government today dismissed reports that Brahmaputra river in Arunachal Pradesh has dried up and said that its average monthly flow has been better than the previous years.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H Pala said, “There is no evidence that Brahmaputra river had dried up in the state recently.

Guwahati: Accusing the NHPC of flouting norms in the formulation and implementation of the Subansiri Hydro Electric Project, RTI activist J N Khataniar said this could lead to “serious ecological and seismic problems in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and neighbouring areas.”

Releasing details secured by means of RTI from the NHPC, the Brahmaputra Board and the Ministry for Environment and Forest, Khataniar told reporters here on Tuesday that the state sector power giant gave “misleading advertisements” in newspapers and media regarding the project.

KOTTAYAM: Pressing for a new dam to replace the century-old Mullaperiyar reservoir, Kerala Water Resources Minister P J Joseph today said the state would place before the Supreme Court its objections to the Empowered Committee's report which concluded that the structure was safe.

Holding that the exisisting dam was weak, he told reporters here that the state would place its demands and objections to the report submitted by the apex court appointed committee when the matter comes up for hearing on July 23.

The raging debate over viability of mega dams in the seismologically sensitive North-east notwithstanding, the Centre has clarified that no conclusive study on non-suitability of construction of large dams in Brahmaputra region has come to the notice. Altogether 165 power projects were granted environmental clearance and 143 power projects were granted forest clearance by the Ministry of Environment and Forests during the past three years.

Setting at rest the controversy over the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, the Empowered Committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand, has said it is “structurally and hydrologically safe, and Tamil Nadu can raise the water level from 136 to 142 feet after carrying out certain repairs.”

In its report submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the committee is understood to have said: “The dam is seismically safe.” Last year's earth tremors in that region “did not have any impact on the Mullaperiyar dam and the Idukki reservoir and there was no danger to the safety of the two dams.”

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday requested the Centre to clear several pending projects in the irrigation sector in view of their significance for the tribal and backward regions and areas affected by left wing extremism (LWE). The Chief Minister met the Union Minister for Water Resources Pawar Kumar Bansal in New Delhi and took up the matter.