Lok Sabha Question No. 1930 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-28
Subject: System to Control Floods
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Annasaheb Shankar Jolle

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI, DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1930 ANSWERED ON 28.07.2022

## SYSTEM TO CONTROL FLOODS

## 1930 SHRI ANNASAHEB SHANKAR JOLLE

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a) whether there is a system in place to control the loss of human lives and livestock in case of floods in of Belagavi and other districts of Karnataka and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government has any proposal to have a long term plan to overcome natural disaster like floods and if so, the details thereof; and

(c) whether NDRF team is available round the clock in the flood affected areas of the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

## ( SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU )

(a) There  are  well  established  institutional  mechanisms  at  the  National,  State  &  District  levels  in  the country to develop appropriate preparedness and prompt response mechanisms for effective management of natural disasters including floods. Central Government has established a robust early warning system and has significantly enhanced the accuracy of weather forecasts. Central Water Commission (CWC) is the  nodal  Organisation  entrusted  with  the  task  of  flood  forecasting  &  early  flood  warnings  in  the country.CWC  has  15  flood  forecasting  (FF)  stations  in  (1  level  forecasting  station  and  14  inflow forecasting  stations)  in  the  State  of  Karnataka.  District  Administration  of  Belagavi  has  informed  that District  Disaster  Management  Plan  has  been  updated  for  the  current  year  2022-23  and  adequate preparedness measures to deal with any contingency arising due to high intensity rainfall/flood  during South West Monsoon are in place. The Water Resources Department of Karnataka is in constant touch with dam authorities of adjoining Maharashtra State, which comprises of major catchment area of upper Krishna basin. The inflows and outflows are shared in real time and releases from dams are made as per rule  curve  with  due  intimation  to  the  lower  riparian  areas.  The  State  Government  and  Central  Water Commission ensure the communication of inflow and level forecast to all stakeholders.

Mock exercises and community awareness programmes are being regularly conducted to educate people at the time of natural calamities including flood.

(b) Flood  management  including  erosion  control  falls  within  the  purview  of  the  States.  Flood management and anti-erosion schemes are formulated and implemented by concerned State Governments as per their priority. The Union Government supplements the efforts of the States by providing technical guidance and also promotional financial assistance for management of floods in critical areas.

Integrated  flood  management approach aims  at  adopting judicious mix of structural and non-structural measures to provide a reasonable degree of protection against flood damages at economic cost .

To strengthen the structural measures of flood magement, Ministry had implemented Flood Management Programme (FMP) during XI & XII Plan for providing Central Assistance to States for works related to flood control, anti-erosion, drainage development, anti-sea erosion, etc. which subsequently continued as a component of "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme" (FMBAP) for the period from 201718 to 200-21 and further extended up to September 2022 with limited outlay. So far Central Assistance amounting  to  Rs.  6686.79  Crores  has  been  released  to  Union  Territories/State  Government  under  this Programme since inception.

For Non structural measures, Central Water Commission (CWC) is the nodal Organisation entrusted with the task of flood forecasting & early flood warnings in the country. Presently, CWC issues flood forecasts for 332 forecasting stations (199 river level forecast stations & 133 dam/ barrage inflow forecast stations). These stations cover 20 major river basins in 23 States & 2 Union Territories. In order to provide more lead time to the local authorities to plan evacuation of people & take other remedial measures, Central Water  Commission  (CWC)  has developed  basin  wise flood  forecasting  model  based  on  rainfall-runoff mathematical modelling  for  5  days  advance  flood  forecast  advisory  at  identified  flood  forecasting  and inflow forecasting stations.

In  order  to  formulate  the  strategy  for  flood  management  works  in  the  entire  country  and  river management activities and works in the border areas,  a Committee was constituted by NITI Aayog under the chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog and officials from various Departments/ Ministries of Government of India, Experts from the field and Principal Secretaries from States of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar  Pradesh,  Bihar,  West  Bengal,  Punjab,  Assam,  Arunachal  Pradesh,  Tripura,  Madhya  Pradesh  and Kerala were included as the members of this Committee. The Final Report of the Committee was issued by NITI Aayog during January 2021.

The major recommendations of the above committee are-

- o FMBAP scheme to be continued for the period 2021-26, i.e., co-terminus with the period of 15th Finance Commission with the provision of inclusion of new projects for funding under the scheme. The selection of the schemes will be undertaken in consultation with NITI Aayog and State Government.
- o Continuous efforts to be made towards modernization in collection of hydro-meteorological data, flood forecast formulation and forecast dissemination. Further simplified data dissemination policy for use of data by the States particularly regarding trans-boundary rivers to be developed.
- o Focus on scientific research in development of Model based system to forecast flash flood with sufficient lead time will provide a much-needed relief from menace of flash floods.
- o Rule curve/ level for all reservoirs should be prepared & updated accounting change in rainfall trend and changing demand over the years due to rapid increase of population, urbanisation and industrialisation. Rule curves of major reservoirs, where flood cushion is not in-built, need to be reviewed to have some dynamic flood cushion for major part of the flood season.
- o The long-term structural solution to floods lies in construction of large storage reservoirs which moderate flood peaks by adopting appropriate reservoir operation schedule.
- o To get benefit of flood control, it is essential that tendencies like encroachment of natural detention basins are curbed and these basins are restored to their natural state as a measure for flood control.
- o The projects for interlinking of rivers for diversion of flood water to water scarce areas may be taken up in a time bound manner.
- o The reclamation of the existing wetlands/ natural depressions should be prohibited by state governments and they should formulate an action plan for using them for flood moderation.

The  above  recommendations  of  NITI  Aayog  have  accordingly  been  taken  into  consideration  while preparing the proposal of FMBAP for the period 2021-26.

(c) For prompt and effective response, Central government has already placed five teams of the National Disaster Response Force in the State of Karnataka for saving human lives in the event of any disaster and if needed, more NDRF teams can be deployed by the Central Government keeping in view of the severity of disaster.

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