Irrigation Dept Sets Up Panel for Dam Safety Reports

Hyderabad: The irrigation department on Thursday set up a committee of senior officials to oversee preparation of safety reports for all 175 specified dams in the state.

The core technical committee, comprising eight officials, will oversee the functioning of the Dam Safety Organisation. This move follows a recent letter by Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy pointing to the slow pace of preparation of mandatory dam safety reports, and that this exercise was falling behind schedule in Telangana.

Following this, it is learnt that the Chief Minister gave an earful to the irrigation department officials and sought immediate steps to ensure the state complied with the provisions of the National Dam Safety Act, 2021.

All the dam safety reports are to be prepared and submitted to the Jal Shakti Ministry by December 2026.

It may be recalled that following a similar report prepared for Singur dam, it was found that the dam faced several dangers, following which a decision was taken to empty it so the required repairs can be taken up.

Among the dams listed by Patil in his October 17 letter to the Chief Minister are the Lower Manair, Mattadivagu, RS Ghanpur reservoir, Sadarmat, Chanaka Korata, Ibrahimpatnam tank, Pocharam, Ralivagu, Ramadugu, Ramappa lake, Samakkasagar, Annaram barrage, Sangambanda, Dindi, Akkampally balancing reservoir, and Foxsagar project in Jeedimetla.