The Bhakra Nangal Project

I went to Bhakra Nangal yesterday and got to know some interesting things about the huge project which was appreciated by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1955. Here is a summary of the facts of  the project:-

• Bhakra Dam is multiple project providing water for irrigation, hydroelectric power and protection from flood.
• Bhakra Dam one of the high straight gravity concrete dam in the world 225.55 meters{740 ft}high which is more than 3 times the height of the famous Quitab Minar of Delhi.
• The Gobind Sagar Lake at full reservoir level extends over a length of 96.56 km{60 Miles}with surface area of 168.35 square kilometers{65.00 Sq Miles}. The storage capacity of the reservoir is 9621 million cubic meters{780 million acre ft}
• The project took 15 years to construction{1948-63}and employed 10 thousand workmen and 500 engineers.

• Over 52 lakh cubic meters{68.2 lakh cubic yards}was used in its construction which is sufficient to construct 2.44 meters{8 ft}toad round the globe at equator.
• 1.02  lakh metric tonnes{1lakh ton}of steel was used for its construction.
• 8.13 lakh metric tonnes{8 lakh ton}of cement was used for its construction.
• Bhakra Nangal Project involves an investment of 255 crore INR.
• The Bhakra canal system provides irrigation facilities to 26 lakh hectares{65 lak acres}of arid land in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan through its network of 4830 kilometers{3000 miles}lengths of canals.
• There has been a remarkable increase in the number of industries in the states of  Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan on account of the power supplied through Bhakra Power Houses. The out turn from major industries is 1500 crore INR.
• the installed capacity of power houses at Bhakra, Ganguwal and Kotla is 1325 Mega Watt(M.W), 86.3 Mega Watt and 84.59 Mega Watt respectively
• Water of Sutlej once going waste has now been fully harnessed to bring prosperity to our people. The canalisation of river Sutlej alone has yield about 80000 hectares{197530 acres}of fertilised alluvial land which lay barren hitherto fore.
• The useful life of the dam is estimated at over 400 years

The project is made across the river SUTLEJ near Punjab- Himachal Pradesh border.

The collected water is sort of a lake and hence it's called Gobind Sagar lake.
Although the photography was prohibited but risk.... :)
so I got these pictures to give you people an idea.

BENEFITS OF PROJECT

1. New area irrigated------------------- 26 lakh hectares
2. Area where irrigation improved-----9.00 lakh hectares
3. Number of town electrified------------------------128
4. Number of villages electrified-------------------13000

ANNUAL PRODUCTION

1. Food Grains----------------------------15.78 lakh million tonnes
2. Cotton-------------------------------------1.85 lak million tonnes
3. Sugarcane---------------------------------3.65 lak million tonnes
4. Pulses, Vegetables and Oil Seeds----------4.4 lakh million tonnes
5. Fodder----------------------------------28.00 lakh million tonnes

Source: Self