PANAJI
Goa’s six specified dams had no emergency action plans, emergency flood-warning systems or hydro-meteorological networks with inflow forecasting in place as of March 31, 2026, exposing a significant gap in the State’s emergency preparedness despite all six dams being assessed as structurally sound and safe.
The finding is part of the Goa State Dam Safety Organisation’s Annual Report for 2025-26, prepared under the Dam Safety Act, 2021, which was tabled in the House by Minister Subhash Shirodkar on Monday. The report states that while all six specified dams underwent pre- and post-monsoon inspections and were placed in Category III, none had an emergency action plan prepared and implemented. No mock drills or tabletop exercises, community awareness programmes or stakeholder coordination meetings were conducted during the financial year either. The Goa-SDSO has also flagged non-allocation of dedicated funds for instrumentation, periodic inspections, emergency preparedness and maintenance as a setback in implementing the Dam Safety Act. As a way forward, it has proposed a real-time monitoring system integrating dam instrumentation and called for a centrally sponsored scheme with annual funds earmarked for instrumentation, inspection, emergency preparedness and maintenance. The six specified dams are Selaulim, Anjunem, Amthane, Chapoli, Gavanem and Mhaisal (Panchawadi). Selaulim is classified as a major dam, Anjunem as a medium dam, while the remaining four are minor irrigation tanks and all are less than 50 years old.
As per the report, rapid risk screening shows that at Selaulim dam, there is highest population-at-risk -- 36,427, followed by Anjunem at 11,574. Mhaisal has a population-at-risk of 648, Chapoli 1,311, Amthane 105 and Gavanem 29.
The report explains that rapid risk screening is intended to identify dams requiring priority attention and considers possible failure modes and downstream consequences, including population at risk. Despite the risk screening being completed for all six dams, the State had not initiated a Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation (CDSE) for any of them as of March 31, 2026. An independent panel of experts had been constituted and assigned to all six dams, but there was only one panel, and no CDSE report had been completed or was under progress. Similarly, hazard-potential classification had not been completed for any of the six dams. The report states that dam-break analysis and preparation of emergency action plans for Selaulim and Anjunem have been assigned to the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, while the exercise for Amthane, Mhaisal, Chapoli and Gavanem has been assigned to IIT-Roorkee. Preparation of operation and maintenance manuals for all six dams has also been assigned to IIT-Roorkee. The report also states that none of the six specified dams had instrumentation fully complying with regulations and functioning, while all six were recorded as having no instrumentation. The report says instrumentation is essential for monitoring seepage, deformation, uplift pressure and other indicators of dam behaviour and for early detection of potential problems.
The report, however, records that no dam failure or dam incident occurred in Goa during 2025-26. It also states that all six dams underwent both pre- and post-monsoon inspections and were categorised as Category III, with the overall structural condition described as “sound and safe.”
Nearly Rs 7.66cr have been spent on repair and maintenance of dams last year.
