Letter to BS: The Dam Safety Bill 2018 is indeed a good step

This editorial “The dam crisis” (September 28) beautifully explains the sad state of country’s 5,254 large dams. Most of these need immediate attention. As you conclude, we need “regular inspection, (prepare) emergency action plans and arrange adequate funding for repair and maintenance, instrumentation and safety manuals for all dams”. The Dam Safety Bill 2018 is indeed a good step — and not a day early — but the government must look to pass the Bill in Parliament soon and take all the necessary steps before we have more tragedies.

The additional sum of Rs 34.66 billion allocated to strengthen select 198 dams may be adequate for the job, but we are obviously facing a situation of much larger dimensions. Dam failures can be perilous — indeed calamitous — for the people living in vast areas that might be devastated by the overflow. Thousands of lives can be lost, besides loss of businesses, factories, schools, hospitals and houses in the area. Dams that were constructed over 100 years ago — with mud, clay and other locally available construction materials — are like a time bomb waiting to explode. The Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project must be extended to all old large dams.

Then, we have the Mullaperiyar dam — located in Kerala, owned by Tamil Nadu, in poor condition and Tamil Nadu refusing to carry out repairs. Such situations really underline the immediate need for creation of a national authority. The government must realise that we are looking at a problem that is not merely economic; it involves the safety of human lives. Enacting and enforcing the Dam Safety Bill 2018 is a national emergency and needs to be tackled like one.
 

Krishan Kalra  Gurugram

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