The Central Soil
and Materials Research Station (CSMRS), New Delhi in the Ministry
of Water Resources and Norwegian Geotechnical Institute Oslo,
Norway have entered into Institutional Cooperation Programme agreement
in the field of "Investigation of Geological Hazards in Dam Reservoirs
for Safety of Downstream Structures": in November, 2002 for a
period of three years. This programme is funded by Norwegian Agency
for Development and Cooperation (NORAD) for a sum of NOK 2.83
million (1 NOK app. Equals 6 Indian Rupees)
The funds allocated
by NORAD for this programme are a component of the bilateral development
cooperation between India and Norway. CSMRS has earlier successfully
completed the following two projects under the Institutional cooperation
programme with NGI, Oslo on Tunnelling Technology (1993-96) and
Environmental Geotechnology (1997-2000).
The benefits from
the two projects are namely technology transfer in the area of
geotechnical engineering, introduction of Norweign Method of Tunnelling
(NMT) to Himalayan Hydro Projects in India (Nathpa Jhakri Project),
introduction of Environmental friendly Engineering Practices to
Water Resources Development and other Infrastructure Projects,
Training of CSMRS engineers in Norway and on the job training
at Indian projects, introduction of Fibre Reinforced Shotcrete
in Indian projects, Building Indian competence for controlling
Landslides, Improved library and laboratory facilities on Environmentally
Sustainable Development Project and dissemination of information
to State Governments and private sector.
Investigation of
geological hazards in dam reservoirs for safety of downstream
structures is essential The present Institutional cooperation
programme is related mainly to dam safety aspects.
Dams require huge
capital outlay to serve various needs, which warrants application
of sound design principles besides good construction practices.
India has over 10,000 dams more than 8 m high. Many of the dams
are in urgent need of safety upgrades and warrant geological and
geotechnical investigations for evaluating the hazards posed in
dam reservoirs. Dam safety is thus of great importance and calls
for multidisciplinary approach. The life of a dam can be threatened
by natural phenomenon such as floods, earthquakes, deterioration
of construction materials. The areas of cooperation will be on
geological and geotechnical investigations in dam reservoirs for
identification of hazards to dams and downstream structures.
The workshop will
be inaugurated by Shri Arjun Charan Sethi , Union Minister for
Water Resources where the Ambassador of Norway to India shall
grace the occasion.
