Govt to soon come up with load restriction notification for safety of Umiam dam: Goyal

Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) Sanjay Goyal on Friday informed that a load restriction notification would soon be issued after the rehabilitation and retrofitting works are completed by July 31.

Speaking to reporters, Goyal said, “Load restriction will definitely be there. Let me be very clear that this rehabilitation work has been to sustain at the level at which it is so that no more damage happens to the structure onwards.”

“We are in consultation with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati and we will be coming up with the load restriction notification after the rehabilitation work is over and we will try to ensure that these restrictions are adhered to. The department has set up CCTV cameras to ensure that heavy loaded vehicles do not pass through the dam,” he said.

He said the rehabilitation of the dam and retrofitting of the bridge will be completed by the end of July.

“This is a public infrastructure and the purpose of this infrastructure is to provide connectivity and let us not do anything which entails further damage or puts it at risk. So through you I would like to say that it doesn’t mean that now this dam is open for any kind or any type of traffic,” Goyal stated.

Asked, the CMD said, “The design (of the dam) has been made to a certain level and that time period has passed almost 60 years odd or 55 years of the dam. So these things do require some rehabilitation and that we are doing but that will not mean you open it for traffic and say 20-30 metric tons that is not what the dam has been designed for. As I mentioned, let the experts decide on the limit and we will try to ensure that limit is adhered to for all kinds of traffic movement.”

Goyal said that the decision to change from bitumen to concreting was based on the inputs from IIT, Guwahati only and that’s how the time to complete the work has slightly increased.

“Otherwise, the time period was to complete the project within June 30 or maximum, say first week of July. So, this concreting change in the scope and the design and the action is based on the report from the IIT and we have said let us take some more time at least do whatever the experts are saying,” he stated.