Bhakra Nangal Dam: A lifeline in the North-West

Submitted by aurora on

Located at a distance of about 116 kms from Chandigarh, Bhakra Nangal dam is one of the world's highest straight gravity dam, constructed across the River Satlej.The hydroelectric station positioned here not just generates power for Chandigarh, but also for Delhi and other cities. The construction work of Bhakra Nangal dam began in 1948 and got completed in 1963.

This gigantic dam derives its name from a village called Bhakra, now submerged in the Gobindsagar reservoir. The construction started in 1948 and was completed in 1960. It was M. Harvey Slocum, an American ranked top in construction at that time, who initiated the project on Jawaharlal Nehru's request. 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”.740 ft high above the deepest foundation, and believed to be more than three times taller than the Qutab Minar, this massive structure harnesses the riotous waters of the Sutlej.

A joint endeavor of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, the Bhakra Nangal project comprises the Bhakra and the Nangal dams, the Nangal hydel channel, two power houses at Bhakra dam and two power stations at Ganguwal and Kotla..The water stored at Bhakra has a tremendous potential of generating hydroelectric power. There are two power houses namely Left Bank Power Plant and Right Bank Power Plant.The power houses are connected on either side by underground cable galleries with the switch yard from where transmission lined take off

Nangal Dam is about 13 km downstream of Bhakra Dam and is 95 ft high. It consists of 26 bays of 30 ft each, designed to divert the water of river Sutlej into Nangal Hydel Channel and Anandpur Sahib Hydel Channel for power generation and irrigation purpose.Nangal Hydel Channel is a lined channel taking off from the left bank of river Sutlej just above the Nangal Dam. The natural fall available along the channel is utilised at Ganguwal and Kotla for generating power.Anandpur Saheb Hydel Channel takes off from nangal Barrage and along the left bank of river Sutlej almost parallel to and on the left side of the Nangal Hydel Channel. Bhakra DamIt is 33 Kms. Long with a discharging capacity of 10150 Cs. It has two power houses at Ganguwal and at Kotla.

In addition to preventing destructive floods, this multipurpose project irrigates the agricultural areas of Delhi,Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. The project generates 1 million kilowatt of hydro-electricity.The lake created by the dam is a 97 km long, 6 km wide reservoir named Gobindsagar.Though located in Himachal Pradesh, the entrance to this dam is at Nangal in Punjab.

The Centerfor Policy Research, NGO think tank based in Delhi, undertook in 2003 a performance analysis of the Bhakra-Nangal Project. The findings were put into a report titled “Bhakra-Nangal Project:Socio-economic and environmental impacts.3 Briefly stated, the assessment of its performance over the last five decades revealed that the project has fulfilled, in a sustained manner, all the objectives envisaged in the Project Report. In addition, it rendered many incidental and indirect benefits, far beyond what were anticipated in the project report. Moreover, the CPR study found that there was more than justified basis for the claimed beneficial impacts due to the project outweighing whatever social and environmental costs had to be paid

Submitted by rajat on Sun, 13-Jul-2008 - 21:21

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In an agrarian society it is important the water is treated with reverence. And with the unpredictable rains of India. Bhakra Nangal has stoodd for millions of farmers over the years. I am proud of it :)