RK Singh at ICOLD symposium on dams: India diversifying its energy basket

New Delhi: Speaking at the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Symposium on Sustainable Development of Dams & River Basins, Power Minister RK Singh said that India is diversifying its energy basket with more non fossil fuels such as hydro, solar, wind, bio energy. He said that these sources of power are clean and cost-effective. He reinstated the commitments of India to the Paris Climate Agreement.  He further added that our per capita income is one third of world average despite that we are only major economy whose actions are on track to preventing the global temperature from rising above 2 degrees Celsius.

The symposium was inaugurated by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister for Jal Shakti, who was the chief guest. And Singh presided over the opening ceremony on Wednesday.

Other dignitaries including Power Secretary Alok Kumar, Secretary of Ministry of Jal Shakti Pankaj Kumar, Central Electricity Authority Chairperson Prakash S Mhaske, and Central Water Commission Chairman SK Haldar.

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International Commission on Large Dams(INCOLD) in collaboration with Central Water Commission (CWC), Dam Rehabilitation Improvement Project (DRIP) and National Hydrology Project (NHP) is organising Symposium on "Sustainable Development of Dams and River Basins" under the aegis of ICOLD at New Delhi as Hybrid event from February 24-27. More than 300 delegates from across the country and abroad will participate in the Symposium.

The symposium is being organised to provide an excellent opportunity to Indian Dam Engineering Professionals and Agencies to share their experiences, ideas and latest developments in new materials and construction technologies, advancement in investigation techniques, best engineering practices, dam safety issues etc. Besides this offers opportunity to networking with the world renowned dam experts from different countries and global organizations involved in Dam Construction, management and operation and maintenance for mutual benefits.

The achievement of flagship programmes of Ministry of Jal Shakti namely Dam Rehabilitation Improvement Project (DRIP) to improve the safety and operational performance of large dams and its appurtenances structures in addition to institutional strengthening and National Hydrology Project (NHP) with the World Bank assistance will be the presented to the Global Dam Community who are keen and looking forward to India's development and successful implementation of DRIP as well as NHP.  In addition, the Dam Safety Bill which has been approved by Lok Sabha, in order to put regulatory mechanism in place, to provide for proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all dams in India, which has been enacted will be publicised.

From 43 countries, 285 full text of technical papers received from the national and international dam experts out of which 130 presentations will be presented during the 27 technical sessions besides more than 30 presentations in the seven workshops are being organized on 27th February 2021 on virtual platform., These presentations will be made to exchange the experiences and latest development related to the design, performance, rehabilitation and environmental aspects of dams which would certainly add new dimensions to the body of knowledge on the subject.  More than 800 participants from 40 different countries are participating in the deliberations of the event. 

There will also be a Special Sessions on "Innovative Financing in Dam Projects, Use of Geo-synthetics in Dam Engineering besides six workshops on Numerical Analysis of Dams, Roller Compacted Concrete Dams, Reservoir Operation for Handling of Extreme Events, Life Extension Technologies and Strategies for Aging Dams, Sedimentation Management in Reservoirs in Sustainable Development and Seismic Analysis of Dam Design and Safety Evaluation of Existing dams"

An exhibition is also being organized during the symposium as a technology showcase to meet the challenges of 21st century for the development of Dams and River basins. The central hub of ICOLD symposium will be multi-functional Exhibitions where products and services of interest to dam community will be on display. Delegates will visit the exhibition booth virtually and have networking with the agencies.

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