INDIANANGLER

2 things...

1) Parts of the article are factually incorrect... the mahseer DOES NOT lay its eggs in sand... its spawns on shingle... loose, disturbed sand smothers the roe and wipes out entire batches of fertilized roe...

2) This problem is not only confined to the Cauvery, but is a nightmare in every mahseer river in the country... from Himacal to Karnataka and MP to Assam... In Himachal too, the government his put checks and balances into place, but unfortunately like everything else, these are only on paper. I'd like to see someone make the effort of trying to stop these guys mining along the rivers and come back with thier hide intact. 3 weeks ago a guard with the HP fishries dept had his head split open with a bamboo staff because he tried to stop illegal mining in a spwaning nulla...

to add to it all, most mining operations are run in a nexu with the local politicos... which lowly guard in his right mind will go against the mighty MLA?

The mining cannot be stopped... it is the cost of development... the govt. is for it... the only people who can regulate it are the courts, like they are doing here in HP... educated people... go file a PIL!!! don't jut sit and read papers and shoot the s**t!!!

Something as damaging as mining is dynamiting.... gelatin sticks can be got hold of easily ... go back to chem class in high school and you'll remember the recipie for ammonium nitrate... the bombing of the rivers carries on blatantly!!! and No, you won't see it happen, cause it does not happen on saturday and sunday, when there are witnesses from the city... it happens on weekdays, when we all are in our air conditioned offices and the natives are happily going about their business!!!

BOOM!!!
IG

Dhruv, I just heard there is a hydel project coming up on the Alaknanda.Have you heard anything of the sort?
Regards,
Yaj.

Hi Yaj,

long time! how are you doing?

I spoke with the both the DC of Pauri and the Chairman of the Uttrakhand Planning Commision and have come to the folloing conclusions:

1) The project is still in the conception stages by the babus. Nothing has been finalized yet and nothing is concrete.

2) Its is more of a "water supply project" than a pwoer project, for 2 reasons; a) Uttrakhand like HP is a power surplus state (why they still have power cuts, I can't figure), b) The region of Garwhal (except along the rivers) is completely parched due to massive deforestation (if you drive from Rishikesh to Joshimath, you'll know what i mean) and the underlying sub strata rock (mostly metamorphic, partially sedimentry)

the proposal is to create more of a barrage near the town of Srinagar to supply water to the eastern parts of garhwal and bring more areas of Distt Pauri under cultivation.

The main reason it has not goe beyond the planning stage is political... the VHP/RSS and all the sadhu from Dev Prayag to Benaras are screaming because of the Tehri Dam and the reduced flow of the river Bhagirathi into the Ganga. No politico in his right mind, especially in the cow belt is going to let it happen for if it does then Ma Ganga as most of us know it will be reduced to a trickle... not only will it destroy the last remaining stocks of giant mahseer, but it suppusedly will also be unable to clense the souls of nearly 700 million sinners!

So the more you sin, the better it is for the mahseer (i you know what i mean)

Make a trip to Himachal... promise you a mahseer this time unlike your last trip to Uttrakhand...

Cheers,

Sad tale of how the Human virus spreads :)
The same problem exists with general Flora and Fauna conservation too...