Bhakra Dam on Sutlej

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) commissions an emergency study after detecting that the main wall of the Bhakra Dam on the Sutlej river is tilting outward beyond permissible limits. The issue is reported along the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border where the dam is located.

Bhakra Dam (on Sutlej River):

Dimension	Key Details
River and type	Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam across the Sutlej River.
Location	Bhakra Dam is located at a gorge near the upstream Bhakra village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border.
Global and regional ranking	Bhakra Dam is the highest straight gravity dam in the world at about 207.26 meters, and it is Asia’s second tallest dam after the 261 m Tehri Dam in India.
Construction timeline	Construction starts in 1948, and the dam is completed by the end of 1963.
Operation and maintenance	Operation and maintenance of Bhakra Dam is done by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).
Reservoir	Bhakra Dam creates the Gobind Sagar reservoir, which is 90 km long and spread over 168.35 sq.km.
Functions and beneficiaries	Bhakra Dam plays a crucial role in irrigation, flood control, and hydroelectric power generation for Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.
Storage ranking (India)	In terms of storage of water, Gobind Sagar is the second largest reservoir in India, and the first is Indira Sagar Dam in Madhya Pradesh with a capacity of 12.22 billion cu m.
Nangal Dam	Nangal Dam is downstream of Bhakra Dam, and both are sometimes called the Bhakra-Nangal Dam though they are two separate dams.
Nangal Dam specifications and role	Nangal Dam is an earthen dam with a height of 29 meters and a length of 305 meters, and it serves as an auxiliary dam to channel water released from Bhakra Dam to two powerhouses.
Powerhouses (installed capacity)	The installed capacity is 785 MW for Bhakra Right Bank Power House and 630 MW for Bhakra Left Bank Power House.