Dam Safety Bill

Question: Consider the following statements:
(A) The Dam Safety Bill provides for the surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of specified dams in India.
(R) Large number of dams in India are over 100 years old.
Which of the following are correct?
(a) A and R are both correct and R is correct explanation of A
(b) A and R are both correct and R is not the correct explanation of A
(c) A is true but R is false
(d) None of the above
Ans: a
Recent Context

  • On 2nd December 2021, Rajya Sabha is scheduled to discuss the Dam Safety Bill, 2019 for consideration and passing.

Related Facts

  • Dam Safety Bill, 2019 was passed by Lok Shabha in August 2019.
  • The objective of the bill is to “help develop uniform, countrywide procedures for ensuring the safety of dams”.
  • The Bill provides for the surveillance, inspection, operation, and maintenance of all specified dams across the country.
  • The dams that come under the scope of the Bill have to be more than 15 metres in height with specified design considerations.

Proposals under the bill

  • The bill constitutes two national bodies. They are National Committee on Dam Safety and National Dam Safety Authority.
  • The National Committee on Dam Safety, will perform the functions of evolving policies and recommending regulations regarding dam safety standards.
  • The National Dam Safety Authority, primary functions include implementing policies of the National Committee, providing technical assistance to State Dam Safety Organisations (SDSOs), and resolving matters between SDSOs of states or between a SDSO and any dam owner in that state.
  • The bill will also constitute two state bodies. They are State Committee on Dam Safety and State Dam Safety Authority. Their functions are restricted at state level and are similar to that of the national committees and authorities.
  • The Bill applies to all specified dams in the country. This includes dams built on both inter and intra state rivers. This raises a question that whether Parliament has the jurisdiction to regulate dams on rivers flowing entirely within a state or not.

Need of the bill

  • Over 5,000 dams across the country, many of which are currently in poor conditions.
  • These dams need constant repair and checkups to avoid any future catastrophe.
  • Due to this a uniform law is required to maintain the dam operations effectively.

By Kameshwar Shukla

Reference:

https://www.firstpost.com/politics/centre-to-lay-the-dam-safety-bill-2019-in-rajya-sabha-key-features-of-proposed-legislation-10179651.html