Staff gets two mths salary as bonus: Rawat
Nearly 58 years ago, the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, poured the first bucket of concrete into the foundations of Bhakra dam. In another eight years, the dam was completed. Much water has flown since then, but the dam continues to irrigate the nation’s food bowl and providing electricity to the region.
As the dam celebrated its 50th anniversary on Tuesday, a commemorative stamp was also released, making it the only structure of post-Independence India that has been given this honour for the second time.
To mark the Bhakra’s half century, Ministers, leaders and senior officials from all the beneficiary States — Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh — and also from the Centre converged here to celebrate the achievement of the great engineering marvel, rightly termed as the Temple of Modern India.
Union Minister of Water Resources Harish Rawat, the chief guest on the occasion, said that the development of our country’s water resources was a cherished dream of our beloved and great visionary leader Pandit Nehru.
“His relentless effort had articulated the water security in the country, which paved the way of Green Revolution and transformed the States like Punjab and Haryana into granary of India,” he added, while lauding the role of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) for smooth operation and maintenance of its projects.
In a gift, Rawat announced to award two months salary to all the officers and employees.
Speaking on the occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda too lauded BBMB’s role in operation and maintenance of its projects and announced Rs 51 lakh aid for modernisation of BBMB Hospital at Nangal.
Punjab Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa and other distinguished dignitaries too expressed their views on the benefits of Bhakra dam.
Visibly proud to celebrate 50 years of completion of the dam that changed fortunes of entire nation, BBMB chairman AB Agrawal said, “It gave the country its food and fruit bowl, energy for industrial expansion and domestic consumption, besides saving people from the scourge of floods and famines.”
“We take pride in celebrating five decades of ceaseless service to the nation and on this occasion, I compliment the cumulative work of all BBMB employees, each of who has put work before self, and shown exemplary commitment during this time. The BBMB will continue towards raising the bar of excellence that it has set for itself even in times to come,” he added. Built on river Sutlej, the 225.55-metre high concrete dam was termed as a technological marvel when it was completed in 1963. Nehru dedicated the dam to the nation on October 22, 1963. Nehru was so involved with the project that he visited the site 13 times during its construction phase. Taking immense pride, Nehru also showcased this project to a number of foreign dignitaries, including the heads of many countries during the construction phase.
The dam itself is now located in Himachal Pradesh, close to the Punjab-Himachal
border, 13 kilometres from Nangal town.
The dam’s reservoir, named Gobind Sagar after the 10th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, is about 96.56 km long, covering an area of about 168.35 sq. km. It is the largest reservoir in India, the BBMB spokesman said.
The height above the deepest foundation of Bhakra dam is 225.55 metres, 740 feet, which is thrice the height of famous Qutb-Minar in New Delhi.
Built at a cost of Rs 245.28 crore in 1963, the canal system of the Bhakra dam irrigates 135 lakh acres agricultural fields of foodgrain States, Punjab and Haryana. The water from the dam helped during the Green Revolution in these States in the 1960s. The water from the dam also reaches parts of Rajasthan.
The 1,361 mega watt (MW) electricity generated at its two powerhouses supplies power to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh through the northern grid.