What is the Dam Safety Act?

Main Objective

• The Act proposes to help all states and Union Territories adopt uniform dam safety procedures. It provides for the surveillance, inspection, operation, and maintenance of all specified dams across the country. These are dams with height more than 15 metres, or height between 10 metres to 15 metres with certain design and structural conditions.
• As of 2019, India has 5,745 large dams. Of these, 5,675 large dams are operated by states, 40 by central public sector undertakings, and five by private agencies. Over 75% of these dams are more than 20 years old and about 220 dams are more than 100 years old.
• Due to the lack of legal and institutional architecture for dam safety in India, dam safety is an issue of concern. Unsafe dams are a hazard and dam break may cause disasters, leading to huge loss of life and property. Therefore, monitoring dam safety is essential.  

Legal Provisions

• Though water is under the state list, the Centre has brought the legislation under Article 246 of the Constitution read with Entry 56 and Entry 97 of List I in the Union list.
• Article 246 empowers Parliament to legislate on any matter enumerated in List I of the Union list in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Entry 56 allows Parliament to make laws on the regulation of inter-state rivers and river valleys if it declares such regulation to be expedient in public interest. Entry 97 allows Parliament to legislate on any other matter not enumerated in List II or List III including any tax not mentioned in either of those Lists.

National Committees

• The Act constitutes two national bodies: the National Committee on Dam Safety, whose functions include evolving policies and recommending regulations regarding dam safety standards; and the National Dam Safety Authority, whose 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.

State Bodies

• It also constitutes two state bodies: State Committee on Dam Safety, and State Dam Safety Organisation. These bodies will be responsible for the surveillance, inspection, and monitoring the operation and maintenance of dams within their jurisdiction.
• The state dam safety organisation must also report events such as dam failures to the National Dam Safety Authority and also maintain records of major dam incidents of each specified dam.
• Functions of the national bodies and the State Committees on Dam Safety have been provided in Schedules to the Act. These Schedules can be amended by a government notification. 

Penalties

• An offence under the Act can lead to imprisonment of up to two years, or a fine, or both.

Why has the Act become contentious?

• Several States, including Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, opposed the legislation on the ground that it encroached upon the sovereignty of States to manage their dams. 
• Critics also raised the constitutional validity of the legislation in the light of water being a State subject. 
• Tamil Nadu has all along been a critic of the legislation as it fears that it will lose its hold over four of its dams, which are located in Kerala. The dams include Mullaperiyar, whose structural stability and safety are being debated for over 40 years, and Parambikulam, an important reservoir that caters to irrigation requirements of the western districts of Tamil Nadu including Coimbatore.
• Taking a cue from the 2011 report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources to invoke Entry 56 of the Union List, the Centre framed the legislation, declaring that “it is expedient in public interest that the Union should take under its control the regulation of uniform dam safety procedure for specified dams.” 
• Another point adduced in support of the legislation is that inter-State basins cover 92% of the country’s area and most of the dams, making the Centre competent to enact such a law.

What’s in the news?

• The Central Water Commission under the Ministry of Jal Shakti is organizing a National Workshop on Dam Safety Act, 2021.
• The workshop is aimed at sensitizing all stakeholders about the provisions of the Dam Safety Act, 2021 and to brainstorm on dam safety governance in India.

Reference

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1834094