Central Water Commission (CWC) maintains National Register of Large Dams (NRLD) as per information provided by State Govts/ Dam owners. As per NRLD, 209 dams are 100 years or more old. Statewise details are at Annexure-I.
Union Government constituted National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS) headed by Chairman, CWC and representatives from State Governments and PSUs. The objectives/mandates of NCDS are:
i) To oversee dam safety activities in various States and suggest improvements to bring these in line with the latest state-of-art consistently with Indian conditions.
ii) To act as a forum of exchange of views on techniques adopted for remedial measures to relieve distress.
iii) To monitor the follow-up action on the report on dam safety procedures.
iv) To recommend any other measures connected with dam safety.
The NCDS has been reconstituted from time to time and was last reconstituted on 15.10.2015.
Prime responsibility of preparation of Disaster Management Plan (DMP)/ Emergency Action Plan (EAP) rests with dam owners which are State Governments, central and state PSUs, municipalities and private companies etc. NCDS in its meetings has requested the State Governments/ Dam owners to prepare the DMPs/ EAPs of each large dam as per guidelines available on CWC website. As per information provided by State Governments, 398 DMPs/ EAPs have been prepared by the dam owners and the details are at Annexure-II.
Government of India has started implementation of Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) with financial assistance from World Bank to rehabilitate 198 dam projects in 7 States viz. Kerala (28 dam Projects), Madhya Pradesh (25 dam Projects), Odisha (26 dam Projects), Karnataka (22 dam Projects), Uttarakhand (Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited) (5 dam Projects), Jharkhand (Damodar Valley Corporation) (3 dam Projects) and Tamil Nadu (89 dam Projects). The original budget outlay was Rs.2100 Crore and was a six year Scheme with scheduled closure in June 2018. The Project has been extended for two more years with revised closure in June 2020. Also, the Government of India has approved Revised Cost of the Project for Rs. 3466 Crore in October 2018.
Guidelines for “Developing Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) for Dams” has been prepared and published during February 2016. The Guidelines were circulated to State Dam Safety Organisations (SDSO) and are available on DRIP website (https://damsafety.in).
Annexure-I
Statewise detail of dams which are 100 years or more old
| Sr. No. | State | No. of dams 100 years or more old |
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 2 |
| 2 | Bihar | 1 |
| 3 | Chhattisgarh | 6 |
| 4 | Gujarat | 29 |
| 5 | Karnataka | 15 |
| 6 | Kerala | 1 |
| 7 | Madhaya Pradesh | 52 |
| 8 | Maharashtra | 41 |
| 9 | Odisha | 3 |
| 10 | Rajasthan | 28 |
| 11 | Tamil Nadu | 1 |
| 12 | Tripura | 14 |
| 13 | Uttar Pradesh | 16 |
| Total | 209 | |
Annexure-II
No. of dam for which DMPs/ EAPs prepared
| Sr. No. | State / DSO’s | No dams for which DMP/ EAP prepared |
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 3 |
| 2 | Bihar | 20 |
| 3 | Chhattisgarh | 57 |
| 4 | Gujarat | 1 |
| 5 | Himachal Pradesh | 19 |
| 6 | Karnataka | 7 |
| 7 | Kerala | 15 |
| 8 | Madhya Pradesh | 8 |
| 9 | Maharashtra | 182 |
| 10 | Odisha | 16 |
| 11 | Punjab | 12 |
| 12 | Tamil Nadu | 28 |
| 13 | Uttar Pradesh | 2 |
| 14 | Uttarakhand | 4 |
| 15 | Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) | 3 |
| 16 | Damodar Valley Corp. (DVC) | 1 |
| 17 | National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) | 20 |
| Total | 398 | |
This information was given by Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
