Govt introduces Dam Safety Bill

Govt introduces Dam Safety Bill

News:

Union Minister of State for Water Resources introduces The Dam Safety Bill, 2018

Facts:

• The Dam Safety Bill, 2018 aims to provide robust legal and institutional framework under Central & State Governments for safety of dams.
• The Bill envisages prevention and mitigation of dam failure related disasters through proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all dams in the country.

Institutional Framework provided in the Bill

• National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS)
  • The Bill provides for constitution of a National Committee on Dam Safety which shall evolve dam safety policies and recommend necessary regulations.
• National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA)
  • The Bill provides for establishment of National Dam Safety Authority as a regulatory body to implement the policy, guidelines and standards for dam safety in the country.
• State Committee on Dam Safety (SCDS)
  • The Bill provides for constitution of a State Committee on Dam Safety by State Government. It will ensure proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in that State and ensure their safe functioning.
• State Dam Safety Organization (SDSO)
  • The Bill provides that every state having specified number of dams will establish a State Dam Safety Organization which will be manned by officials with sufficient experience in the field of dam safety.
  • In certain cases, such as where a dam is extended over two or more States or dams of one State falling under the territory of another State, the National Authority has to perform the role of State Dam Safety Organization thereby eliminating potential causes for inter-state conflicts.
• The Bill provides for punishment / penalty if the dam safety provisions are not followed

Challenges

• The Union Government does not have power to legislate on this Bill as the subject comes under the purview of state governments.
• Few states raised objections that the Bill does not recognize dams and reservoirs run by long-standing inter-state agreements.
• Tamil Nadu raised concerns regarding ownership of dams and reservoirs which are owned, operated and maintained by a State, but located in another State.
• Real time inflow forecasting systems are not in place even in important reservoirs.
• Siltation of reservoir is a serious issue, though in most cases the extent of siltation continues to remain unknown.
• De-siltation of reservoir is difficult in many a cases owing to environmental concerns related to sediment disposal.

Additional Facts:

• Types of dam in India
  • Earth dam: Earthen dam utilizes natural materials with a minimum of processing. In India most of the dams are earthen dam.
  • Gravity dam: A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by primarily utilizing the weight of the material. Gravity dams provide some advantages over embankment dams.
  • Composite dam: It is an earthen dam which are provided with a stone masonry or concrete overflow (spillway) section.

Dam Safety Initiative in India

• Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP)
  • This project is run by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD & GR).
  • It is an externally-aided project. 80% of the total project is provided by the World Bank as loan/credit and remaining 20% is borne by the States / Central Government (for CWC). Govt. of India has not sought funding from any internal agency for this project.
  • It aims to repair and rehabilitation of about 225 dam projects across the seven states of India, namely Jharkhand (DVC), Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand (UJVNL).
• Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA)
• It is a web based asset management software to support the effective collection and management of asset and health data for all large dams in India.