Agony of Floods: Flood Induced Water Conflicts in lndia
Eklavya Prasad, K. J. Joy, Suhas Paranjape, Shruti Vispute
F O R W FOR POLICY 0UUX)GUE ON
WATER CONFLICTS ,
Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water conflicts in lndia
October 2012
Agony of Floods: Flood Induced Water Conflicts in lndia
Eklavya Prasad, K. J. Joy, Suhas Paranjape, Shruti Vispute
O Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in lndia, Pune, Maharashtra, lndia
Supported byr ARGHYAM Trust, Bengaluru, Karnataka, lndia CoverDesign andfayout by Marion Jhunja Cover Photos by Eklavya Prasad and Luisa Cortesi
Publishedby: Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in lndia, Pune C/OSociety for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM) 16, Kale Park, Sorneshwarwadi Road, Pashan, Pune 411 008 Maharashtra, INDIA Tel: +91-20-2588 078612588 6542 Fax: +91-020-2588 6542 Email:
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First published in October 2012
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Citation: Prasad Eklavya, K. J. Joy, Suhas Paranjape, Shruti Vispute, (Ed.), 2012, Agony of Floods: Flood lnduced Water Conflicts in lndia, Pune: Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in lndia. Conbibutory Price : Rs. 2001-
Contents Acknowledgements i Preface ii- vi Introduction vii-xiii Will Someone Share Our Extra Water? Dinesh Kumar Mishra xiv-xxvix
Case study I: India's First Geo-Tube Embankment: Erosion of Community Hopes Parag Jyoti Saikia 1-9
Case study 2: The Char Dwellers of Assam: Flowing River, Floating People Gorky Chakraborty 10-22
Case study 3: Bridge over Kosi: Connecting People or Banishing Them? Jitendra Choubey 23-32
Case study 4: Floods in North Bihar: A Recurrent Source of Conflicts Vinay Kurnar, Rarnesh Kurnar, Prern Kumar Verma, Rajendra Jha, Chandrashekhar and Pmdeep Kurnar Poddar 33-47
Case stum 5 Flash Floods in Eastern UP: Hill Rivers Flood the Low Lying Region of Eastern Uttar Pradesh Causing Annual Distress Migration Alka Pande 48-56
Case study 6: Ghaggar Floods: A Manmade Disaster with Tragic Consequences T. V. Jayan 57-68 Case study Z Floods in South West Punjab: Flood in the Arid Regions? Arshinder Kaur 69-81 Case study 8: Floods in Western Rajasthan: Life after the Deluge T. V. Jayan 82-89
Case study 9: Mumbai under Floods: A Natural Disaster or Manifestation of an Underlying Conflict in Mumbai City's Skewed Urban Planning? Nidhi Jamwal 90-100 Case study 10: Flood in Krishna Basin: lnstit~itionalResponses to Flood Regulation Narendra V. Killada, Shrinivas Badiger and Bejoy K. Thomas 101-112 Case study 1I: Floods in Bengaluru: No Respect for Water Bodies and Water Courses S. Manasi and K.C. Smitha 113-123
Nature is Hard to Know: Conflicts over Floods as Struggles of Knowledge Luisa Cortesi 124-138 About Contributors 139-146
I
Chapter 10
' 229 deaths were reponed in Kamatakaand 90 in Andhra Pradesh. 21.92 Lakh hectares of crop land was damaged in Kamataka and 22 6 lakh hectares in Andhra Pradesh.6,55,484houses were damaged in Kamataka and 2.59,095 in Andhra Pradesh.Thedamage to livestock was also very high with 7,882 cattle deaths in Kamataka and 48.686 in Andhra Pradesh. The total damage in Karnataka was estimated at INR 18,568.25 CroresandINR 12,455.75 Crores In Andhra Pradesh (GoK. 2009 and GoAP. http://disasterrnanagement ap.gov.in/website/hi~tory~htm , accessed on 30 December, 2011).
The three riparian States of Maharashtra. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, through which Krishna flows, have built small, medium and large reservoirs acmss the catchment to tap the water for irrigation, power generation and domestic water supply. It was pointed out that the intensity of floods could have been reduced if the reservoir levels were managed effectively. The downstream State of Andhra Pradesh argued that the upstream Almani and Narayanpur reservoirs in Karnataka released water without adequate n o w (Hegde, date unknown), resulting in the backwaters of Srisailam reservoir i Andhra Pradesh extending into the town of Kurnool, which had never b seen a flood of that magnitude nor was prepared to deal with it. Observers have, on the contrary, questioned why the release from Srisailam reservoir Andhra Pradesh to the downstream Nagajuna Sagar reservoir was delay the aftermath of the rainfall (Ramachandraiah, 2011: 435). Thus. on the o hand, storage and release of water from the reservoirs remain a contested issue where multiple economic and political interests overlap and on the other, it is important that the institutions, governance structures and the communities in the region prepare for and adapt to flood events in the While this debate has been controversial with political connotations spark the inter-state water sharing debate, there has been little attempt to loo available data on what actually happened during the five days of the d reflect on what went wrong and think forward to introducing specific m for disaster preparedness. This case study attempts to do this using empi analysis, field visits and interviews with affected communities, govemmen agencies, local formal and informal institutions and offer some insights on institutional aspects of dam operations and flood management. Even thou the flood might not have been completely averted, we argue that a timely proactive response would have reduced the severity of flood, both in terms magnitude and duration, and its impact on the affected communities. article, firstly, we provide a brief overview of the events that led to the We then examine the operation of reservoirs and compare it with an e simulation exercise involving an alternate strategy of reservoir operation. Finally, we discuss the complexities of reservoir management and flood control, and the need for disaster risk reduction strategy by combining res of our simulation exercise with field observations and assessment of institutional responses.
The Chronoloav -- of 2009 Floods We have used the popular nomenclature instead of the official nomenclature forthe wnvenience of the readers. Northem lnterior Karnataka region covers several districts lncludlng Bidar, Bellaly, Dhalwad, Bagalkote and Bijapur.
102
The geographic setting of this case study is best represented and demarca by the major dams built acmss Krishna and Tungabhadra in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The map (Figure 2) shows the major dams including Al and Narayanpur (Tungabhadra dam) in Karnataka, and Srisailam, Nagaju Sagar and Vijayawada (Prakasam barrage) in Andhra Pradesh.?
1
1
The entire Krishna basin, particularly the lower parts of the basin, constituti the Northern Interior Kamataka3andSouth-westem Andhra Pradesh receiv extremely high rainfall from 2amSeptember to 3" October 2009 The region typically characterized by frequent droughts and the average annual rainfall I most of the d~strictsvaries between 600 - 800 mm. Sudden downpour of
