Dam Safety Bill in Lok Sabha

New Delhi, Dec 12 The government Wednesday presented the Dam Safety Bill in the Lok Sabha, a legislation which will encourage states and union territories adopt uniform methods to guarantee safety of supplies.

The bill also provides for surveillance, inspection, task and upkeep of indicated dams to avoid dam failure related disasters.

The bill was presented in the midst of protests by opposition parties including the Congress, TDP and AIADMK on different issues.

Restricting the presentation of the bill, BJD part Bhartruhari Mahtab said the bill does not go under the domain of the Lok Sabha and Parliament.

"The subject goes under the domain of the state government," he said.

Presenting the bill for the benefit of Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the central government has the administrative competency to present the bill.

He said if two states agree, the Centre has the legislative competency to introduce the bill.

There are more than 5,200 large dams in India and around 450 are under construction.In addition, there are thousands of medium and small dams.

Due to lack of legal and institutional safeguards, dam safety is an issue of concern in the country.