[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

DAM-L LS: Large dams and the twin towers (fwd)

----- Forwarded message from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net -----

Return-path: <owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net>
Received: from noxmail.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (nox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca [192.139.46.6])
	by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) with ESMTP id QAA24967
	for <dianne@pophost.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>; Tue, 30 Oct 2001 16:58:39 -0500 (EST)
From: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
Received: from DaVinci.NetVista.net (IDENT:mjdomo@mail.netvista.net [206.170.46.10])
	by noxmail.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id f9ULwgR03718
	for <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>; Tue, 30 Oct 2001 16:58:43 -0500 (EST)
Received: [by DaVinci.NetVista.net (8.10.0/8.8.8) id f9ULiUD06037
	for irn-narmada-list; Tue, 30 Oct 2001 13:44:30 -0800 (PST)
	(envelope-from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net)]
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 13:44:30 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200110302144.f9ULiUD06037@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
Subject: LS: Large dams and the twin towers
Sender: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/op/stories/2001103000040101.htm

The Hindu,  Open Page, Oct. 30, 2001

  Large dams and the twin towers

THE HORROR of WTC's twin towers falling down on September 11 has changed the
perspective of many countries in many fields. Among other things a
reappraisal of what is vulnerable and what is not has commenced.

In the October 20 issue of The Hindu, it is reported that France has drawn
up a list for special precautions being taken and that list includes large
dams, large in the French context.

Dams in India are larger. While France has no hostile neighbour, India has
one ready to exploit any sign of weakness. If France feels constrained to
protect its large dams we should be even more so in the changed world
scenario.

  Earthy question

As a matter of fact we should have been so even earlier. When Khruschev came
visiting in 1953 or thereabouts a sightseeing tour was arranged and
Bhakra-Nangal was in that itinerary. Nehru wanted to impress him with Indian
skills in achieving great things. But Khruschev was not impressed. He was a
very earthy person having come up from the ranks to the topmost job in his
country. And an earthy question he asked was why we built such a dam so
close to the border. What would happen if the dam was bombed? The accurate
answer should have been that a sizeable part of Punjab would then be under
water. The officer showing Khruschev around tactfully replied that he was
only an
engineer and was not concerned with political problems.

More dams have been built since then. Two are currently immersed in
controversies, the Tehri and the Sardar Sarovar, for different reasons —
earthquakes in the first and displaced persons in the second. The maximum
intensity of earthquakes so far in the Tehri belt has been 6.5 and the Tehri
dam is being built to withstand an intensity of 9.5. The safety factor
provided is adequate, so it is said. But no seismologist seems to have
averred that a 9.5 intensity earthquake will never
occur. The chances may be slim but if that slim chance does materialise then
woe to U.P.! There is no such risk in the second case.

Dams have become legitimate targets in an all-out war and as usual the
democratic West has set the precedents. During the Second World War British
planes bombed out a dam in Germany and they did so at night so that the
people below might be washed away in their sleep without being put to the
trouble of finding a way out in the dark.

The security atmosphere has now changed for the worse everywhere.  More so
for India than for others, for it has been announced that India is on the
hit list. It is reported (The Hindu, October 20) that the Al-Badr outfit of
Pakistan claims to have adherents everywhere in India ready to wreak havoc.

  A case for reappraisal

Irrespective of what has been decided in the past there is now a case for
reappraisal of large dams under construction and of those envisaged for the
future. Is it not possible to build instead a series of small dams along the
course of the river whose total output may be nearly the same as that of one
large dam. Perhaps it may not be possible to do so in every case but
investigations may reveal alternatives in several cases and I am sure that
our engineers are sufficiently innovative to make use of them. The costs may
be higher but the risks and collateral damage may be lower.

  V. RAMANATHAN
  General Manager (Retd.),
  Indian Railways



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to majordomo@netvista.net
with no subject and the following text in the body of the message
"unsubscribe irn-narmada".

----- End of forwarded message from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net -----