Rs 10,211 crore dam safety programme gets cabinet nod

The Union cabinet presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the second and third phase of the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Programme (DRIP) at a cost of Rs 10,211 crores, said Jalshakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

New Delhi: The Union cabinet presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday approved the second and third phase of the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Programme (DRIP) at a cost of Rs 10,211 crores, said Jalshakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

Shekhawat said the programme will be implemented in two phases of four years each with an overlapping period of two years, taking the total implementation period to 10 years.

Shekhawat said with 5,034 existing dams and 411 dams under construction, India is the third largest country in terms of dams following the US and China.

“Eighty percent of dams are 25 years are older. With this programme, overall safety and productivity of these dams will be improved,” Shekhawat told reporters in a briefing.

The minister said 80% funding of the programme will be arranged through multilateral lending institutions such as World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Improvement Bank (AIIB) and 19 states and 2 central organisations will be involved in the second and third phase of the programme.

The minister also informed that rehabilitation work of over 200 dams has already been completed under the first phase of the programme.

Tourism to fetch money for maintenance of dams

Shekhawat said 4% money of the total outlay will be spent in creation of tourism, water based tourism and fisheries related projects and infrastructures at these dams which will help generate revenue for continuous upkeep of these dams.

(Article by Krishnanand Tripathi)