Parambikulam incident raises serious concerns over dam safety

COIMBATORE:

With the damage to one of the three shutters at the Parambikulam dam resulting in five to six thousand million cubic feet of water draining into Kerala, serious concerns over the safety of dams across the State, including the inter-State reservoirs, have been raised.

The Parambikulam dam is not an isolated incident; five years ago the KRP dam in Krishnagiri and four years ago Mukkombu shutters suffered damages. In both the cases, it was within the State, though in this case, the damage to the shutters in Parambikulam dam resulted in water draining into Kerala, forcing the Kerala State government to issue a flood alert.

Engineers in Water Resource Organisation (WRO) of the Public Works Department, on condition of anonymity, pointed out that the Kerala State Government could well cite this incident and demand take over of dam maintenance including the Mullaiperiyar.

Lack of irrigation assistants at dam sites and complete dependence on contractors for minor operation and maintenance has resulted in the Parambikulam dam shutter suffering damage, the PWD-WRO Engineers pointed out.

Retired Chief Engineer R. Elangovan of PWD had submitted a proposal in 2015-16 to strengthen the workshop at Aliyar. The proposal was to strengthen the workshop at Aliyar with adequate irrigation assistants so that they could periodically maintain the shutters of all the 24 dams in Western Tamil Nadu. About a decade ago, the irrigation assistants were extensively employed for application of rubber sealing grease at dam sluices and shutters. The proposal costing ₹90 lakh was turned down by the Government and the Aliyar sub-division is starved of manpower today.

In the absence of the workshop, the PWD engineers are dependent on contractors who opt only for major works. Around 15 irrigation assistants at the workshop would be sufficient to take up the maintenance of shutters and dams periodically. Candidates with ITI qualification and six months training would be sufficient. Along with the proposal, the Chief Engineer PWD had also sought issuance of guidelines on dam safety in Tamil for use by irrigation assistants and even that was turned down..

Serving engineers pointed out that the preparation of a panel of contractors and awarding the contract approrpirately are imperative. Equally important is the introduction of shift system for irrigation assistants, and a list of fabricators who would make shutters. Water Resource Organisation (WRO) Minister S. Duraimurugan should constitute a panel of retired engineers and take up the inspection of dam safety audits, engineers added. The need for a panel of retired engineers is to bring out the truth about the dam safety and also to reduce the workload of engineers currently serving in the department.