(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Dam Safety Bill, 2019

Topic: Dam Safety Bill, 2019

Guest:

N K Mathur, (Former Member, DNR, Central Water Commission)
Sudhir Krishna, (Former Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development)
Prof. C K. Varshney, (Chairman, Reviewer's Panel of Climate Change Programme)
Chakshu Roy, (Head of Outreach, PRS Legislative Research)

Topic Description:

A bill seeking to set up an institutional mechanism for surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of specified dams across the country was passed by Lok Sabha on Friday with the centre asserting it has no intention of taking over power of the states. The provisions of the bill is proposed to be applied to all specified dams in the country which have height of more than 15 metres, or between 10 metres to 15 metres. Among other things, the bill also seeks to resolve the inter-state issues concerning maintenance and safety of dams. Around 92 per cent of dams in the country are on inter-state river basins. There are 5,745 reservoirs in the country of which 293 are more than 100 years old. The age of 25 per cent of dams is between 50 to 100 years and 80 per cent are over 25 years old. 40 dams have collapsed in India since Independence and the worst such disaster occurred in Gujarat in 1979 leading to loss of thousands of lives of people.