Bhakra Nangal Project
Introduction: The Bhakra Nangal Project is joint venture of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan Governments. The two dams, one at Bhakra and another at Nangal, together is referred to as Bhakra-Nangal Project.
Aims: The aim of these projects are:
- to provide water for irrigation,
- to generate hydro-electricity, and
- to prevent from from Sutlej-beas rivers
The Bhakra-Nangal project comprises of the following:
- Two dams at Bhakra and Nangal
- Nangal hydel plant
- Power houses, and
- Bhakra canal system
Two dams at Bhakra and Nangal
1. The Bhakra Dam: It is the second highest (226 metres height) dam in India,the highest being Tehri dam (260 meters height). It is 226 metre high and 518 metre long and the width of the base at its widest point in 362 metres.
The name of the reservoir of Bhakra dam is “Gobind Sagar”. With a storage capacity of 9.3 billion cubic meters, it is the third largest water reservoir in India.
The initial planning of Bhakra dam started be independence, but the actual works took off after the independence. The first phase of the work was completed in 1963.
The Government of India celebrated the Golden Jubilee (50th anniversary) of Bhakra dam and released commemorative postage stamps on 22nd October, 2013.
2. The Nangal Dam: It has been constructed at Nangal on the river Sutlej in the state of Punjab. It is about 13 kms downstream of Bhakra Dam. It is 305 metres long and 29 meteres high and 121 metres wide.
Nangal hydel channel
- The Nangal Hydel channel is about 64 km long and 44 metres deep. It supplies water to Bhakra irrigation canals.
Power Houses
- Four power houses at Ganguwal, Kotla, left bank power house and the right bank house with a combined installed capacity of 1204 mw.
- Two power houses, one at Ganguwal and the other at Kotla have been constructed Ganguwal power houses have two units of 24 mw each and 1 one unit of 29 mv.
- Two other power houses with 450 mw and 600 mw production capacity are located at Bhakra.
Bhakra canal system
It is providing irrigation facility to 27.41 lakhs hectares of land in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. It covers land in Jalandhar, Ferozepur, Hashinagar, Ludhiana, Ambala, Hissar, Karnal in Punjab and Haryana and Bikaner division of Rajasthan. This is a remarkable achievement of Indian Government made during the Five Year Plan.