NEW DELHI, Aug 26 � In a first formal reaction to the controversy over construction of mega dams in upper reaches of Brahmaputra River, the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has said large dams are even safer over small dam because the design and construction requirement of large dams are much more stringent making them more resilient.
Government of Assam has got in touch with MoWR and informed that some people have the apprehensions that the construction of big dams in upper reaches of River Brahmaputra would cause adverse impact on downstream areas in Assam, confirmed Minister of State for Water Resources, Vincent H Pala in a Rajya Sabha reply to a question by Motilal Vohra and Satyavrat Chaturvedi.
Meanwhile, in the Rajya Sabha reply on Thursday, the Minister said that the State Governments of North Eastern region have allotted a number of hydro power projects to independent power producers and public sector undertakings for execution. The height of the dam and storage capacity, depending upon the water availability, its variability over the year and submergence permitted by the State Government.
Pala said that both the small and large dams are designed using state-of-art design and analysis techniques. However, in the case of large dams, the requirements of planning, design, investigation, data acquisition and construction are much more stringent, as compared to small dams, This makes large dams even more safe over the small dams, he argued.
Generally, all major dams are being designed based on the site specific seismic design parameters recommended by the National Committee on Seismic Design Parameters (NCSDP), the Minister pointed out. The NCSDP comprises experts from the various organisations of national repute. Dams, whether small or large, are designed according to relevant guidelines and Indian Standard Code to account for any seismic eventuality, Pala added.
