Increased seismic activity endangers century-old dams, govt to address issue
NEW DELHI: Red-flagging concerns over century old dams that pose major hazards during natural calamities, the Central government has chalked out several projects to rehabilitate these dams. The Ministry of Water Resources Development conducted a meeting with experts from various countries including USA, UK, France, Japan and Australia who not only presented their ideas but also promised to share the latest available technologies to repair these ancient dams.
“In the rehabilitation list, we have also included dams which are over 25 years old but we will mainly focus on those dams which were constructed around 100 years ago. We have so far identified around 170 dams which have exceeded the critical age of 100 years,” said a senior officer of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
According to the ministry, around 80 percent big dams present in India are over 25 years old. Because of irregular maintenance and scant attention, these dams are not only facing tough challenges of survival but also posing dangers to residents of adjacent areas.
The brain storming session of Indian and foreign dam experts was conducted in Indian Institute of Technology in Roorke, in the state which has five big aging dams being marked under Dam Rehabilitation & Improvement Project (DRIP) of the Central government. A 52-year old Dakpathar Barrage dam on Yamuna river, is the oldest dam in the state. This dam feeds water to Western Yamuna Canal to run two power plants in the state – Dhakrani and Dhalipur. The water is further used in another 50-year-old Asan Barrage located at the border of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The foundation stone for both these dams were laid in 1949. Three more dams included in the rehabilitation list are as follows- Ichari (1972), Maneri (1984), and Rishikesh (1980).
“The warnings of the high magnitude earthquakes in the Himalayan region by National Disaster Management in January last year has been worrisome for the government. The dams situated in the Himalayan regions need immediate attention. After being exposed to three earthquakes last year, the region was yet again rattled by a mild earthquake of 5.8 on February 6, this year,” said an officer.