New Delhi: The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved a Rs 3,466 crore package for safety and rehabilitation and management of hydro power dams in the country.βThe package will cover 198 dams. The total envisaged expenditure has a Rs 2,600 crore component of the World Bank too,β law and IT minister Ravi Shanker Prasad said during a media briefing following the Cabinet meeting here.
The devastating floods in Kerala last month -- that killed 370 people, displaced 780,000 and caused Rs 50,000 crore worth of damages β had sparked a nationwide debate on the poor dam management in the country.
The Union cabinet had in June this year approved a proposal for enacting the Dam Safety Bill 2018 in a bid to help the state s and union territories adopt uniform safety procedures to ensure reservoir safety.
India has 5,200 large dams and around 450 are under construction, in addition to thousands of medium and small-sized dams.