Chungthang dam collapse: War of words escalate, SDF hits back at CM PS Tamang

SDF's reaction comes after Sikkim Chief Minister PS Tamang blamed the previous government for constructing a sub-standard dam by violating rules

Days after Prem Singh Tamang blamed the previous SDF government for the collapse of the Chungthang dam, the SDF has hit back at the Sikkim Chief Minister holding him responsible for the recent disaster.

Speaking to Northeast Live SDF chief spokesperson M.K Subba alleged that the PS Tamang government overlooked the implementation of the Dam Safety Act 2021, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Chungthang dam under the Teesta Stage III project.

Subba said, “If he would have been sincere, if he would have implemented the Dam Safety Act 2021, all of us know that he has not implemented that act. That was vital to save the lives of people downstream and upstream of the Teesta Stage III project. He has overlooked the very critical act. That could have saved the lives of people of Sikkim in this Teesta river basin. He has failed on all fronts.”

Not only this, according to MK Subba, the Sikkim Chief Minister is not the competent authority to decide on whether a dam is substandard or not. Subba stated, “The present CM is specially saying that the dam has been substandard. He is not the authority to say whether the dam was substandard or not. He is not the statutory body who can ever say that the dam was good or bad.

The dam was built as per specification monitored by the statutory committee of the GoI. There are other bodies also which regulate the quality of dams means what is to be implement, what is to be done for maintaining the quality. All these are done by the central statutory body. In none of the states it is done by the state governments, it is done only by the central government statutory committee.”

The SDF leader alleged that Chief Minister Tamang was blaming the Pawan Chamling led government for the disaster for political gains.

In this context Subba said, “He (Prem Singh Tamang) is doing it just for political mileage. He is on a backfoot and right now he has lost the confidence of the people of Sikkim. Four and half years he has done nothing.”

According to CM Tamang, severe technical and financial irregularities from inception to completion led to the disaster. He further stated that the dam’s structural safety was compromised for benefitting a few persons in the then SDF government led by Pawan Kumar Chamling.

As per the Sikkim Chief Minister, the Central Water Commission (CWC) while approving the original dam design had directed that a concrete gravity-filled dam be built at Chungthang. But Tamang alleged that this was violated and instead a rock-filled dam was set up to cut the construction cost.

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