India’s 6,600 Dams Face 2026 Safety Check Deadline Amid Funding, Technical Gaps

The authority has set a deadline for the compliance to three major provisions of National Dam Safety Act 2021, under which every dam owner, typically State governments, including a few private owners, must complete three key safety activities, including, a detailed risk assessment study, the preparation of an emergency action plan (EAP), and a comprehensive dam safety evaluation (CDSE). 

Most of the dams in the country, including Sardar Sarovar (Gujarat), Koyna (Maharashtra), Mettur (Tamil Nadu), Hirakud (Odisha), Krishna Raja Sagara (Karnataka), and Indira Sagar (MP), fall under the purview of state governments, while a few dams, including Ghatghar Hydroelectric Project in Maharashtra, are managed by the private owners.

Under this Act, all dam owners are legally obligated to complete this exercise by December 2026, and it will be done through an independent panel of experts.

“NDSA has framed a regulation on the constitution of an independent panel of experts, and to facilitate the Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation, we have prepared a template for a report on the evaluation. The NDSA has also shared an explanatory note with the dam owners about the requirement under the Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation,” National Dam Safety Authority Chairman Anil Jain said. 

Risk Assessment Study

A risk assessment study will be required to be conducted by all dam owners in India. The exercise is aimed at preventing dam failure-related disasters to help in identifying hazards, classifying risk potential, and implementing necessary safety measures and emergency plans. If not maintained, a major loss of life, damage to infrastructure and property, and immense economic losses could happen. 

Every dam owner must prepare an EAP before initial filing and update existing EAPs within five years of the Act's commencement. These plans are based on dam-break studies, which model flood scenarios, identify downstream inundation areas and estimate populations at risk.

NDSA, in collaboration with the Central Design Authority (CDA), Pune, is conducting simplified dam-break analyses for all dams. By May 2026, inundation maps for all 6,600 dams are expected to be ready—an unprecedented national dataset.

With this, over 6,500 specified dams across India must complete mandatory safety protocols, but the slow progress is jeopardising both public safety and crucial national infrastructure. 

However, inadequate technical expertise, absence of critical hydrological data, limited instrumentation, and insufficient dedicated funding have resulted in delays across most states. 

According to Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA), without reliable instrumentation and warning systems, EAPs cannot specify realistic detection and classification procedures, nor can they support operational drills and testing—both mandatory under the Act.

Highlighting the limitations to compliance with the Act, officials said that essential instruments such as piezometers (for pore pressure), seepage collection sumps (V-notch weirs), pendulums (for horizontal displacement), settlement markers, water-level gauges, and temperature sensors are neither installed nor functional due to a lack of maintenance budget. 

Automated Telemetry Systems

“Many older dams rely on manual daily readings or inspection notes. Automated telemetry systems with real-time alerts are rare, preventing timely emergency classification,” NVDA officials told The Secretariat. 

Accordingly, even when inundation maps exist, downstream communities often have no automated alarm systems or tested communication protocols to receive and act on warnings.

Meanwhile, Jain said, “There are about 13 to 14 provisions in the NDSA Act 2012, and dam owners have been given a deadline for only three provisions, including Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation, Emergency Action Plan, and Risk Assessment.”

Jain informed that to assist the dam owners, the government has initiated a programme called Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) in 19 states across the country.

However, officials suggest that externally-aided projects such as the DRIP and Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Program (AIBP) provide financial support for EAP preparation and instrumentation upgrades, but these schemes cover only a fraction of India's large dams.

“DRIP covers limited dams. Non-DRIP dams have no assured funding, Slow fund disbursement, and Limited financial flexibility are the major bottlenecks,” officials said. 

Meanwhile, the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) has begun a sweeping digitisation drive that, for the first time, brings all of India’s 6,600 dams onto a single digital platform.

“We had the information earlier, but it was scattered. Now everything would be digital form,” said Anil Jain, Chairman, NDSA.

DHARMA Portal

The NDSA has introduced the Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA) portal where all dams in the country have now been registered, which was not there before the Act.

The NDSA, which has the legal mandate to enforce the Act, has repeatedly pressed dam owners to accelerate these tasks, emphasising the non-negotiable nature of the December 2026 cut-off. 

The compliance is directly linked to securing the lives and property of millions residing downstream of these vital structures.