Damned by our dams as safety issues swirl
Narendra Modi government had brought in a comprehensive Dam Safety Act. The Dam Safety Act of 2021 became effective from 30 December that year. According to an official statement, the Act provides a comprehensive framework for proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all the large dams.
The Act also provides for an empowered institutional framework for dam safety, both at the level of Centre and States and will help in standardizing dam safety practices across the country. The official declined to provide any further details of the steps taken to make India’s large dams safe. The parliamentary standing committee has noted that some of the dams were over 300 years old and despite the Jal Shakti ministry acknowledging that the lifespan of a dam is 100 years, none of the older dams had been decommissioned till date.
The panel gave a three-month deadline to the ministry to apprise it of steps taken to nudge state governments to decommission dams that have outlived their lifespans and may pose severe threat to life and infrastructure. In any case, decommissioning of dams remains a controversial issue in India, points out Ranjan Panda, a water activist and convenor at Combat Climate Change Network, India. “For one, India’s water policy is dominated by civil engineers who feel their work can pass the test of time.
Policymaking does not involve stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, unlike in the US or Europe," he said. Then, there are powerful socio-economic concerns that prevent dam decommissioning. “Dams create a new economy around them.
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