History of Bhakra Dam

Bhakra Dam

Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam across the Sutlej River and is near the border between Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in northern India.

The dam, located at a gorge near the (now submerged) upstream Bhakra village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, which is about 13 km upstream from Nangal townshi, is Asia's second tallest at 225.55 m (740 ft) high next to the 261m Tehri Dam also in India. The length of the dam (measured from the road above it) is 518.25 m; it is 9.1 m broad. Its reservoir, known as the "Gobind Sagar", stores up to 9.34 billion cubic meters of water, enough to drain the whole of Chandigarh, parts of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. The 90 km long reservoir created by the Bhakra Dam is spread over an area of 168.35 km2. In terms of storage of water, it withholds the second largest reservoir in India, the first being Indira Sagar dam in Madhya Pradesh with capacity of 12.22 billion cu m.

Described as 'New Temple of Resurgent India' by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, the dam attracts tourists from all over India.

Nangal dam is another dam downstream of Bhakra dam. Sometimes both the dams together are called Bhakra-Nangal dam though they are two separate dams.

History

The Bhakra-Nangal multipurpose dams were among the earliest river valley development schemes undertaken by India after independence though the project had been conceived long before India became a free nation. Preliminary works commenced in 1946. Construction of the dam started in 1948, Jawahar Lal Nehru poured the first bucket of concrete into the foundations of Bhakra on 17 November 1955 and the dam was completed by the end of 1963. Successive stages were completed by the early 1970s.

Initially, the construction of the dam was started by Sir Louis Dane, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab. But the project got delayed and was restarted soon after Independence. In October 1963 at the ceremony to mark the dedication of the Bhakra-Nangal Project to the Nation, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said, "This dam has been built with the unrelenting toil of man for the benefit of mankind and therefore is worthy of worship. May you call it a Temple or a Gurdwara or a Mosque, it inspires our admiration and reverence".

Features

The dam, at 741 ft (226 m), is one of the highest gravity dams in the world (compared to USA's largest Hoover Dam at 743 ft).

The 166 km² Gobindsagar Reservoir, named after Guru Gobind Singh, is created by this dam which is the third largest reservoir in India the first being Indira Sagar Dam and second Nagarjunasagar Dam. The river Satluj used to flow through a narrow gorge between two hills, Naina Devi ki dhar and Ramgarh ki dhar, and the site was chosen to dam the river. The map nh-43-03.jpg shows the location of the original Bhakra village that was submerged in the lake formed behind the dam.

It is 15 km from Naya (New) Nangal and 20 km from Sh. Naina Devi.

Usage

The dam was part of the larger multipurpose Bhakra Nangal Project whose aims were to prevent floods in the Sutluj-Beas river valley, to provide irrigation to adjoining states and to provide hydro-electricity.

 It also became a tourist spot for the tourists during later years because of it huge size and uniqueness.

Irrigation

The dam was constructed with an aim to provide irrigation to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Another reason behind the construction of the dam was to prevent damage due to monsoon floods. 

The dam provides irrigation to 10 million acres (40,000 km²) of fields in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. It also has four flood gates to control floods.

Electricity generation

Bhakra and Nangal dams house hydroelectric power generators, which are situated on both the sides of the dams. Nangal hydel Channel and Anandpur Sahib Channel are used for power generation and irrigation purposes.

Each power plant consists of five turbines. Two power houses with a total capacity of 1325 MW flank the dam, on either side of the river. The left power house contains 5 x 108 MW Francis turbines while the right 5 x 157 MW.

The power generated at Bhakra Power houses is distributed among partner states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and also supplied to common pool consumers like National Fertilizers Ltd. and Chandigarh.

Tourist destination and attraction

Being the Second highest dam in India, it attracts a large number of tourists who visit its reservoir and attractive location. The distance between the Ganguwal and Bhakra Dam is about 30-35 km.