Rs 200-crore project to assess structural health, safety of Bhakra & Pong dams

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) is undertaking a major project to assess the structural integrity and safety attributes of its two major dams — Bhakra and Pong — located in Himachal Pradesh, and implement corrective measures and technical upgradation where required.

The exercise, spread over four years, is being undertaken by the Centre’s Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) that is granted loans by the World Bank on easy terms. It has a total projected financial outlay of Rs 200 crore, according to BBMB sources. The World Bank finances up to 70% of the outlay, while the remaining part is funded by the central and state agencies concerned.

The project involving Bhakra and Pong is expected to continue till 2029. “The first part of the project will be executed in 2025-2026 for which Rs 70 crore has been sanctioned by the World Bank,” a senior BBMB functionary said.

“Documents for the same were finalised in December 2024 and we expect the funds to be released within the current financial year,” he added.

Located on the Sutlej, the Bhakra dam was inaugurated in 1963, while the Pong dam that lies on the Beas was commissioned in 1974. Both dams have a combined hydro-power generation capacity of 1,775 megawatts and an irrigation potential of 6,76,000 hectares across the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, making them crucial national assets.

BBMB sources said the rehabilitation project involves evaluation of the physical state of the structures, measuring the dams’ deflection due to the constant water pressure against it, detecting and sealing seepage, undertaking seismic studies and treatment of the catchment area for slope stabilisation, erosion and silt flow.

There is also some upgradation of instrumentation along with the automation of downstream headworks and barrage gate operations as well as real-time data access on various operational parameters, the sources added.

The objective of DRIP, first launched in 2012, is to increase the safety of major dams and strengthen dam safety management through institutional mechanisms. As dams age, they require detailed assessment of their structural and functional condition. Bhakra, the construction of which started in 1948, is now 62 years old while Pong is over 50 years old.

India ranks third after China and the United States in the number of large dams. The National Register of Large Dams-2023, lists 6,281 dams in the country, out of which 6,138 are operational and 143 under construction. These dams are vital for ensuring the water security of the country and constitute a major responsibility in terms of asset management and safety.