Andhra Pradesh seeks inclusion of 31 dams in safety scheme

New Delhi: YSRCP MP V Vijayasai Reddy on Thursday urged the Centre to rehabilitate 31 dams (such as Chitravathi Balancing Reservoir, Gundlakamma Reservoir, Pampa, Paderu, Godavari Barrage, Mid Pennar Stage-I, Somasila, Srisailam, Velugodu) for which proposals had been sent by AP at an estimated cost of Rs 776 crore under Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Programme (DRIP).

These projects should be accommodated under DRIP Phase-II and III and should be completed in a time-bound manner, he said.

Speaking on the Dam Safety Bill, 2019, he welcomed the move to introduce the Bill as AP had been seeking the same since long. It was late Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who mooted the proposal to strengthen the dams in the country in 2007 itself.

Dam safety Legislation was primary to the upkeep of irrigation and drinking water facilities in the country, he said.

He said as per the National Register of Large Dams, India has 5,745 large dams, of which over 75 per cent are more than 20-years-old and about 220 dams are more than 100-years-old, he said. As for Andhra Pradesh, "We have Dowleswaram Barrage (1850) which is 170-years-old; we have Prakasam Barrage (1855) which is 165-years-old; Thotapalli Barrage (1908) which is 112-years-old and Siddapuram tank (1919), which is 101-years-old. To ensure that these old dams do not suffer any breaches and cause damage to life and property, the monitoring of dam safety is essential," he said