Chennai: Terming the Dam Safety Bill as an “attack on State autonomy,”DMK working president M.K. Stalin has urged the Centre to immediately withdraw the Bill, contending that it is the state government's duty to ensure safety of dams and the people.
He also called upon the AIADMK government to pass a resolution in the TN Assembly insisting that the State will take the responsibility of safety of its dams.
“The resolution should tell the Centre that the current Dam Safety Bill is unnecessary and the same should be sent to the Union government,” he said and asked the BJP-led government at the Centre to stop its “confrontational attitude” with states and refrain from such moves, to ensure cordial Central-State relationship.
His demand comes close on the heels of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to keep the bill in abeyance, till all States were consulted and consensus evolved on the subject.
Last week, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal for enacting the Dam Safety Bill 2018, aiming to ensure the states and union territories adopt uniform safety procedures for safety of reservoirs. It provides for establishment of National Dam Safety Authority as a regulatory body which shall discharge functions to implement the policy, guidelines and standards for dam safety in the country.
It also provides for constitution of a State Committee on Dam Safety by the State governments. The provisions of the Bill also lay onus of dam safety on the owner and provides for penal provisions for commission and omission of certain acts.
Strongly opposing the Union Cabinet's approval to the Bill, he charged the BJP government with launching “yet another attack on the autonomy of the States.” The matter came under the State List he said and wondered how a proposed agency in Delhi could oversee the safety of a dam in Tamil Nadu.
In a statement here on Sunday Stalin recalled that a similar effort was made in 1987 but the draft bill then faced stiff resistance as it “amounted to snatching away state governments’ rights.”
Referring to the bill that was moved in the Lok Sabha in 2010 during the UPA regime, he said it was referred to a Standing Committee following opposition. Also, the draft provided a ‘choice’ to State government, allowing it to pass an Assembly resolution over dam safety. “But this clause of ‘choice’ is missing now,” he alleged and accused the Centre of ‘trying to do away’ with a right in the state list.
