Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa government has constituted the State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO) and the State Committee on Dam Safety (SCDS) to keep perpetual surveillance on the operation and maintenance of all the dams in the State. Goa currently has a total of five dams.
As per the notification issued by the Chief Engineer of Water Resources Department (WRD) PB Badami, all the dams will now fall under the jurisdiction of SDSO in matters relating to surveillance, carrying out inspections, and monitoring the operation and maintenance to ensure the continued safety of the specified dams and take measures as may be necessary to address safety concerns.
The SDSO and SCDS are set up as mandated under the Dam Safety Act of 2021, enacted by the Government of India. While the SDSO will be headed by the Superintending Engineer, the SCDS chairman will be the Chief Engineer of WRD.
The SDSO will have to review and study various features of the dam design, construction, repair and enlargement of dams, reservoirs and appurtenant structures under their jurisdiction.
The organisation will also have to classify the dams under vulnerability and hazard classification criteria after conducting a detailed study.
The SDSO have to submit the report to the chief engineer for necessary action as and when mandated.
The SCDS will be in force for a period of three years. The SCDS will review the work done by the SDSO and will establish priorities for investigations in case of specified dams under distress conditions. It will recommend the appropriate measures to be taken in relation to the safety of the specified dam which is under distress and assess the potential implications of reservoir filling of a specified dam in the State on an upstream State, and coordinate mitigation measures with such upstream States.
