The dam, located in the village of Bhakra in the Bilaspur region of Himachal Pradesh, is Asia's second
highest 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 9340 million cu m of water, enough to drain the whole of Chandigarh, parts of
Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. The 90 km long reservoir created by the Bhakra Nangal 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.
History
The Bhakra-Nangal multipurpose dam was among the earliest river valley development
schemes undertaken by independent India, although the project was 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 [2] 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 by the reoriented and phased 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". it is fifteen km from naya nangal and twenty km from naina devi.
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 732 ft). The 166 km² Gobindsagar Reservoir, named after Guru
Gobind Singh, is created by this dam.
[edit] Usage
The dam was part of the larger multipurpose Bhakra Nangal Project whose aims were to
prevent floods in the Sutlej-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.
[edit] Irrigation
The dam was constructed with an aim to provide irrigation to the 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.
[edit] Electricity Production
Bhakra Nangal dam houses hydroelectric power generators, which are situated on both the
sides of the dam. Nangal hydel Channel and Anandpur Sahib Channel are used for power
generation and irrigation purposes.
It also has 4 flood gates which are fully functional during the period of floods and also has 2
power- stations situated on the either side of the dam, which receives water through huge
pipes which are directly connected from the dam's reservoir to each power- plant. Each of the
power plants consists of 5 generators, and a power station.
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.[3] A smaller subsidiary dam, called the Nangal Dam is located downriver from the
Bhakra Dam.
The power generated at Bhakra Power houses is distributed among partner states of Punjab,
Haryana, Rajasthan & Himachal Pradesh and Bhakra power is also supplied to common pool
consumers like NFL, Chandigarh, etc.
[edit] Tourist Destination and Attraction
Being the highest dam in India, a large number of tourists visit its reservoir and attractive
location. the distance between the Ganguwal and Bhakra Dam is about 30–35 km.
