Man-made or natural calamity ?
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 06 2025:
In the wake of the large scale destruction caused by widespread floods in several parts of the State, particularly Imphal East district, several quarters have started questioning whether it was a natural calamity or a manmade disaster resulting from the authorities' failure to repair dams and barrages in time.
According to a gazette notification issued by the Water Resources Department on May 20, 2022 under Section 14 of the Dam Safety Act 2021, a "State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO)" was formed comprising top officers and engineers of Water Resource Department and the organisation is supposed to monitor the operational preparedness of dams.
Nine top engineers including WRD Additional Chief Engineer Ahanthem Rohit who is the chairman of SDSO and six dam observers have been monitoring the dams.
For repairing and maintenance of dams and barrages, huge amounts are allocated from the State budget under the head "Irrigation Maintenance Project" .
However, it remains a big question whether the huge amount of money sanctioned for maintenance/repairing of dams and barrages are utilised properly or not, sources said.
With the huge amount not utilised properly and the dams/barrages not repaired in time, shutters of some dams were not working and puller chains got rusted or snapped and these failures led to artificial floods in the State, said the sources.
On account of the incessant rainfall which lashed the State from May 28, water levels of all major rivers rose rapidly.
Even as the water levels were rising rapidly, the Water Resource Department could not open dam shutters till May 31 as many of the shutters were found damaged and puller chains were not working or rusted.
Thus, these failures of the Water Resource Department turned out to be a major factor for triggering artificial floods in the State, said the sources.
Singda Dam and Thoubal Dam had little effect on the flood as necessary actions were taken up on time.
But one shutter of Dolaithabi Dam which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 was swept away by the increasing volume of water upstream.
It is highly questionable whether the shutter collapsed due to the authority's failure to repair and maintain the dam properly, the sources said.
The shutter was swept away by the strong water pressure because it could not be pulled up as its puller chain was rusted and it snapped ultimately.
Although substantial amounts are earmarked every year for Irrigation Maintenance repairing Project, there was no sign of repairing or maintenance at some dams during the last 2-3 years, said the sources.
As such, certain quarters have alleged that the recent flood proved to be quite devastating on account of lapses on the part of SDSO.
After checking the conditions of dams, SDSO should inform the Water Resources Department in time for necessary repairing and maintenance works, said the sources.
Huge amounts are earmarked every year for repairing and maintenance of all major dams including Khuga Dam, Singda Dam, Khoupum Dam, Thoubal Dam and Dolaithabi Dam.
Had these sanctioned amounts been utilised properly, the recent issues like collapse of shutters, rusting and snapping of puller chains could have been avoided, the sources rued.
For maintenance of Dolaithabi Barrage, an amount of Rs 12.89 lakh was sanctioned.
Substantial amounts were sanctioned in 2023 and 2024 for maintenance of Imphal Barrage and Sekmai Barrage respectively.
Out of the total amount allocated to Water Resource Department for 'Flood Control', Rs 10 lakh was sanctioned for repairing IFCD-1 office, Khoyathong, Rs 37.40 lakh for electric fitting of the Chief Engineer's office, Rs 10 lakh for repairing of EE/FCD-2 office, Lamphelpat, Rs 61.50 lakh for repairing and maintenance of the Chief Engineer's Office, and renovation of the office of Additional Chief Engineer-2 which was damaged by floods on May 28, 2024 and Rs 32 lakh for repairing the office of Superintending Engineer, FMC, Khoyathong.
Other than these, substantial amounts were sanctioned for many other works, the sources added.
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