Ranchi: The Jharkhand water resources department has initiated the official process to establish two Independent Panels of Experts (IPoE) for conducting a comprehensive dam safety evaluation of 59 key dams situated across the state under the department’s direct jurisdiction.Each panel will feature a multidisciplinary team of eight domain specialists. The panel composition includes dedicated experts in dam safety, structural design, construction supervision, geology, hydrology, hydromechanics, instrumentation, and seismology. A chairperson, chosen directly from among the appointed members, will lead each respective panel.Moti Lal Pingua, engineer-in-chief of the department, confirmed that the panels are being constituted under the mandate of Section 38 of the Dam Safety Act, 2021. “The panels will be formally set up and the on-ground work for the dam safety evaluation will commence within the next three months in strict accordance with the provisions and guidelines of the Act,” he said.To ensure that the extensive evaluation process is executed in a timely and efficient manner, Pingua added that the expert panels may be further subdivided into four distinct working groups of four members each. This strategic division will enable the department to inspect a larger number of installations simultaneously and complete the entire exercise within a significantly shorter duration.The water resources department has already floated formal advertisements inviting applications from qualified professionals across the country. The search encompasses seasoned specialists currently serving in, or retired from, central and state govt institutions, public sector undertakings, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and reputed private organisations.Pingua said that the exhaustive safety evaluation will involve a meticulous review and structural analysis of historical data regarding the design, construction, operation, maintenance, and overall performance of each dam.Key parameters of the assessment include evaluating hydrologic and hydraulic conditions, with mandatory reviews of design floods as prescribed by safety regulations, alongside a general assessment of seismic safety featuring site-specific studies where necessary. Furthermore, the experts will scrutinise routine maintenance and inspection protocols while identifying any emerging conditions that could pose a potential hazard to the structural integrity of the dams.
