Government of India 
Central Water Commission (CWC) with assistance from the World Bank, embarked upon the six year Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) at an estimated cost of ₹ 2100 crore in April 2012.
The primary objectives of DRIP include
- Improvement of the safety and performance of selected existing dams and associated appurtenances in a sustainable manner, and
- Strengthen the dam safety institutional setup in participating States as well as in Central Water Commission.
The project will also promote new technologies and contribute to institutional strengthening and project management activities in the CWC and other participating organizations. In-house capacity building is also proposed to be taken up in nine premier Academic & Research institutes; these institutes in turn would provide expertise in improving dam safety conditions in the country. The Central Dam Safety Organisation of CWC, assisted by a Consulting firm, is coordinating and supervising the implementation of DRIP.
The project envisages the rehabilitation and improvement of about 250 dams within seven states namely, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand. Most of the dams identified for rehabilitation under DRIP are composite dams (Masonry or Concrete Gravity and Earthen Embankment) and majority of them are more than 25 years old. Many of these dams are facing various structural deficiencies as well as shortcomings in the operation and monitoring facilities. There are also inadequacies in complying with the current design standards and philosophy, predominantly the spillway capacities are not adequate to discharge the estimated design floods. These conditions affect the safety of the structures and pose risks to life and properties of people downstream of dam. The actual number of dams covered under DRIP may vary owing to the addition / deletion of dams during the implementation of the project. The current status of the project implementation can be seen at
Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project
The major achievements of the project include:
- Design flood reviews, dam health inspections and firming of rehabilitation proposals completed for 208 dams; rehabilitation works awarded for 144 dams.
- Accomplished a detailed investigation for the unusual behaviour of Idukki Arch dam involving site / laboratory investigations and FEM (Finite Element Method) analysis leading to its meaningful rehabilitation design.
- ISO 9001:2008 Certification for Quality Management System of Central Dam Safety Organization received in August 2015.
- Organized two National Dam Safety Conferences - Chennai, 24-25 March 2015, and Bengaluru, 12-13 January 2016.
- Conducted 48 training classes benefiting about 1700 participants on various aspects of DRIP implementation.
- Received award from CBIP in 2016 for promoting Health and Safety of Large Dams.
- Development of DHARMA (Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application), a web-based application for managing dam physical assets effectively and efficiently.
- Prepared Guidelines for Developing Emergency Action Plans for Dams.
- Organized Workshop on Lessons Learnt from the ongoing Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) – New Delhi, 18 February 2016
For more information about the DRIP, please visit the website: www.damsafety.in
