DAM REHABILITATION AND IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME
- Government of India, with financial assistance from the World Bank initiated Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) in April 2012 with an objective to improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams along with dam safety institutional strengthening with system wide management approach. It was a State Sector Scheme with Central component.
- The financial outlay of the Scheme was originally Rs 2100 Cr, which was revised to Rs 3466Cr in September 2018. The Budget Outlay was revised to Rs 2642 Cr after surrendering of loan amounting to US$ 101 M during COVID19. The Scheme successfully closed in March 2021 with completion cost of Rs 2567 Cr.
- The Scheme had rehabilitation provision for 223 dams located in seven States (Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand) with 10 Implementing Agencies on board. The CWC had been entrusted with overall coordination and supervision.
- Design Flood Review of 250 dams and Dam Safety Review Panel Inspection of 260 dams were carried out during the initial stage of the Project.
- Major rehabilitation works have been completed at 221 dams. The rehabilitation at balanced two dam projects is under progress and would be completed under new Scheme DRIP Phase II. The Scheme comprehensively addressed hydrological, structural and operational safety of these dams.
- The Scheme has been able to develop two most important dam specific technical documents Emergency Action Plan (EAP), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) manual) for all DRIP dams which will ensure safety and operational performance of selected dams; will mitigate the associated risks with dam failure. Dissemination of EAPs through 101 Stakeholder consultation programs with participation of about 10000 stakeholders helped in ensuring disaster resilient dams, and communities.
- The publication of 13 Guidelines/Manuals related to dam safety was completed under the project to ensure strengthening technical regulation in dam safety areas and standardize the dam safety practices across the country. These would also assist Indian dam owners and dam safety professionals globally to systematically address various emerging challenges in various domains of dam safety management.
- The Scheme proposed Dam Instrumentation and Monitoring by providing Geodetic, Seismic, Hydro-meteorological, and Geotechnical instruments on need basis for scientific monitoring of comprehensive safety evaluation as well as integrated reservoir operations at 115 dams located across these seven States.
- Capacity building of staff and officials involved in regular operation of these water assets along with central and academic institutions is one of the important activities. Under DRIP, 10 Implementing agencies, eight academic institutions and two central agencies were part of this activity. As a part of Institutional Strengthening, 191 customized national and international trainings were conducted benefitting about 5500 officials.
- To promote long term asset management, web-based tool called Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA) has been developed to capture important data for all dams and use it for appropriate monitoring and development of rehabilitation protocols. This is step to move towards application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in dam safety to smartly manage our existing water assets. This tool has been implemented with seven modules with license to 18 states. Data has been entered for over 1500 dams with over 1100 active official users.
- Dam Safety Conferences and Workshops provided a forum for exchange of experience among dam professionals from around the world. Three National Dam Safety Conferences in Chennai (2015), Bengaluru (2016), Roorkee (2017) and Two International Dam Safety Conferences in Thiruvananthapuram (2018) and Bhubaneswar (2019) were organized. National and international dam professionals submitted over 500 technical papers for these conferences covering aspects in dam safety management and dam rehabilitation. About 2500 delegates participated and benefitted from rich exchange of experience relating to latest technical developments and practices in dam engineering. These conferences received overwhelming response from the national and international dam fraternity.
- IIT Roorkee and IISc Bangalore have announced degree course in Dam Safety since July 2021 Academic Session.
- Detailed information about the Scheme is available on official website https://damsafety.in/
DRIP Phase II & Phase III
- Based on the success of DRIP, Ministry of Jal Shakti initiated another externally funded Scheme DRIP Phase II and Phase III. This new Scheme has nineteen (19) States, and three Central Agencies on board. The budget outlay is Rs 10,211 Cr (Phase II: Rs 5107 Cr; Phase III: Rs 5104 Cr) with rehabilitation provision of 736 dams. The Scheme is of 10 years duration, proposed to be implemented in two Phases, each of six year duration with two years overlapping. Each Phase has external assistance of US$ 500 M. The Union Cabinet has approved the Scheme on October 29, 2020. The Scheme has been declared effective on October 12, 2021.
- The Phase II of the Scheme is being co-financed by two multi-lateral funding Agencies – World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), with funding of US$ 250 million each. Loan signing ceremony for loan amounting US $ 250 Million each from World Bank and AIIB was held on August 04, 2021 and May 12, 2022 respectively. Loan Agreement was signed by DEA and both funding agencies and Project Agreement was signed by 10 partner States (Gujarat, Manipur, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu) with both funding agencies. The funding pattern of Scheme is 80:20 (Special Category States), 70:30 (General Category States) and 50:50 (Central Agencies). The Scheme also has provision of Central Grant of 90% of loan amount for special category States (Manipur, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand).
- The Scheme has four components; (i) Rehabilitation of dams and associated appurtenances to improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams and associated appurtenances in a sustainable manner, and (ii) Dam safety Institutional Strengthening to strengthen the dam safety institutional setup in participating States as well as on a Central level, (iii) Incidental Revenue Generation for sustainable operation and maintenance of dams, and (iv) Project Management.
- Detailed information about the Scheme is available on official website https://damsafety.cwc.gov.in/