Parliament Question: Safety Assessments for Dams and Reservoirs

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3066 ANSWERED ON 06.08.2026 SAFETY ASSESSMENTS FOR DAMS AND RESERVOIRS 3066. Shri SRIBHARAT MATHUKUMILLI: Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state: (a) the number of dams and reservoirs for which safety assessments have been completed under the Dam Safety Act, 2021, State-wise against the total number of specified dams in each State including the status of MeghadriGedda, Raiwada, Tatipudi and Mudasarlova reservoirs in Andhra Pradesh; (b) whether the Government has undertaken any spillway repair, structural audit or rehabilitation work at MeghadriGedda, Raiwada, Tatipudi and Mudasarlova reservoirs and if so, the details thereof; (c) the estimated annual water loss including losses due to evaporation and reduced storage capacity, attributable to the absence of such repairs at each of these reservoirs; and (d) the timeline by which the remaining safety assessments and spillway audits are proposed to be completed across the country and specifically for Visakhapatnam in view of the Government’s December 2026 target for pending dam safety evaluations? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI RAJ BHUSHAN CHOUDHARY) (a) The responsibility for ensuring the safety of dams, including their operation, maintenance and surveillance, rests primarily with the respective dam owners, which are predominantly the State Governments and Central/State Public Sector Undertakings. Further, in accordance with Section 31 of the Dam Safety Act, 2021, every owner of a specified dam is required to carry out annual pre-monsoon and post- 1monsoon inspections through its Dam Safety Unit and submit the inspection reports to the concerned State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO). The SDSO examines these reports and communicates its observations regarding the safety status of the dam, deficiencies noticed and remedial measures required, if any, to the concerned dam owner. As per the information furnished by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), pre-monsoon inspections for the year 2026 have been completed in respect of 6,566 out of 6,598 completed and operational specified dams across the country. The State/UT-wise details are given at Annexure. In Andhra Pradesh, pre-monsoon inspections have been carried out for all 150 specified dams, including MeghadriGedda, Raiwada and Tatipudi reservoirs. Further, Mudasarlova does not fall under the category of specified dams under the Dam Safety Act, 2021. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation is responsible for its upkeep and the reservoir serves primarily as a source of drinking water. Moreover, under Section 38 of the Dam Safety Act, 2021, every specified dam is required to undergo a Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation (CDSE) through an Independent Panel of Experts. As informed by the NDSA, Independent Panels of Experts have so far inspected 1,090 specified dams, and CDSE reports have been completed for 468 dams. (b) As informed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, no spillway repair, structural rehabilitation or rehabilitation works have been undertaken in respect of the MeghadriGedda, Raiwada and Tatipudi reservoirs. (c) As per the information provided by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the annual water loss due to evaporation and seepage loss in the concerned reservoirs are as follows: S. No. Project Annual Evaporation Loss (TMC) Seepage Loss (TMC) 1. MeghadriGedda 0.082 0.024 2. Raiwada 0.53 0.16 3. Tatipudi 0.157 0.094 (d) As per the Dam Safety Act, 2021, timeline for Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation is December 2026. *** 2ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3066 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 06.08.2026 REGARDING “SAFETY ASSESSMENTS FOR DAMS AND RESERVOIRS” Total No. of Number of specified dams inspected Sl. Completed & during pre-monsoon 2026, as States/UT No Operational reported by States/UT on the Specified Dams DHARMA Portal 1 Andhra Pradesh 150 150 2 Arunachal Pradesh 5 4 3 Assam 3 3 4 Bihar 32 32 5 Chhattisgarh 317 315 6 Goa 6 6 7 Gujarat 524 523 8 Haryana 3 3 9 Himachal Pradesh 26 25 10 Jharkhand 68 67 11 Karnataka 232 232 12 Kerala 65 65 13 Madhya Pradesh 1370 1369 14 Maharashtra 2713 2692 15 Manipur 4 4 16 Meghalaya 11 9 17 Mizoram 3 3 18 Nagaland 1 1 19 Odisha 219 219 20 Punjab 15 15 21 Rajasthan 313 313 22 Sikkim 9 7 23 Tamil Nadu 123 123 24 Telangana 164 164 25 Tripura 1 1 26 Uttar Pradesh 139 139 27 Uttarakhand 33 33 28 West Bengal 36 36 Andaman and Nicobar 29 3 3 Island (UT) 30 Jammu and Kashmir (UT) 8 8 31 Ladakh (UT) 2 2 Total 6598 6566 ***** 3