Panchet Dam
Encyclopedia
Panchet Dam was the last of the four multi-purpose dams included in the first phase of the Damodar Valley Corporation
. It was constructed across the Damodar River
at Panchet
in Dhanbad district
in the India
n state
of Jharkhand
, and opened in 1959.
in the United States. W.L.Voorduin, senior engineer of TVA prepared a preliminary report that outlined a plan designed to achieve flood control, irrigation, power generation and navigation. As a result, Damodar Valley Corporation came into existence in 1948 for development and management of the basin as a whole. While Voorduin envisaged the construction of eight dams and a barrage, it was later decided to have only four dams at Tilaiya
, Konar
, Maithon
and Panchet
, and Durgapur Barrage
.
The first dam was built across the Barakar River
at Tilaiya and inaugurated in 1953. Two years later, in 1955, the second dam across the Konar River
was inaugurated. The third dam across the Barakar at Maithon was inaugurated in 1957, and the fourth dam across the Damodar at Panchet was inaugurated in 1959.
of West Bengal
, before meeting the Barakar at Dishergarh
and flowing fully through West Bengal.Panchet Dam has been constructed a little above its confluence with the Barakar. While Dhanbad district is on the northern bank of Panchet reservoir, Purulia district is on the southern bank. Panchet Hill rises above Panchet Dam.
Panchet Dam is 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from Chirkunda
on Grand Trunk Road
, and 54 kilometres (33.6 mi) from Dhanbad
.It is 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) from Asansol
.The nearest railway station is at Kumardhubi, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away, on the Grand Chord
line.
The four DVC dams are capable of moderating floods of 651000 cuft/s to 250000 cuft/s.
The Panchet Dam has a storage capacity of 170.37 million m3 to dead storage and 1497.54 m3 to top of gates. The reservoir covers an area of 27.92 km2 at dead storage level, 121.81 km2 at maximum conservation pool and 153.38 km2 at top of gates.
Salient features of Panchet Reservoir:
police station, was submerged with the construction of Panchet Dam. Telkupi was capital of Tilakampa Kingdom, of which Panchakot Raj was probably a part. The ruins of the garh
(fort) of the Singh Deo dynasty of Panchakot located at the southern foothills and a group of temples are still standing as mute spectators of the rise and fall of the dynasty. J.D.Beglar who visited Telkupi in 1902 described it as 'containing, perhaps, the finest and largest number of temples within a small space that is to be found in the Chutia Nagpur Circle in Bengal'. He listed over twenty temples and referred to several others and to 'numerous mounds, both of brick and stone’. Telkupi dates back to the 1st century AD.The temples submerged at Telkupi were Jain
temples
, then Prime Minister of India, was invited to inaugurate the newly constructed Panchet Dam. The officials selected two project workers, fifteen-year-old Santhal
girls Budhni Mejhan and Robon Majhi, to welcome the Prime Minister. Budhni Mejhan formally garlanded Nehru. When Budhni returned home to her village of Karbona, the village elders told her that since she had garlanded Nehru, she had effectively "married" him; and since Nehru wasn't a Santhal, she had married outside the community. As result of this "crime", she was chased out of the village and shunned by her family and neighbours. Later she found refuge in the house of Panchet resident Sudhir Dutta and had a daughter by him; the daughter is also rejected by the Santhal community. In 1962, the DVC fired Budhni from her staff position. In 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
reinstated her at the DVC, but she and her daughter remain outcasts from their village.
, rohu
, mrigal
and L. calbasu
in the fishery, without stocking indicates that the carps now reproduce in the reservoir.
Damodar Valley Corporation
The Damodar Valley Corporation, popularly known as DVC, is the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India. The corporation came into being on July 7, 1948 by an Act of the Constituent Assembly of India . It is modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the USA. Jawaharlal...
. It was constructed across the Damodar River
Damodar River
Damodar River originates near Chandwa village, Palamau district, on the Chota Nagpur Plateau in the Jharkhand state in eastern India, and flows eastward for about 592 km through the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal to the estaury of the River Hooghly...
at Panchet
Panchet
Panchet is a census town in Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.-Demographics: India census, Panchet had a population of 8,353. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Panchet has an average literacy rate of 67%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy...
in Dhanbad district
Dhanbad District
Dhanbad district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India, and Dhanbad is the administrative headquarters of this district...
in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of Jharkhand
Jharkhand
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...
, and opened in 1959.
DVC overview
As a result of the catastrophic flood of 1943, the Governor of Bengal appointed the Damodar Flood enquiry committee to suggest remedial measures. It suggested creating an authority similar to that of the Tennessee Valley AuthorityTennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
in the United States. W.L.Voorduin, senior engineer of TVA prepared a preliminary report that outlined a plan designed to achieve flood control, irrigation, power generation and navigation. As a result, Damodar Valley Corporation came into existence in 1948 for development and management of the basin as a whole. While Voorduin envisaged the construction of eight dams and a barrage, it was later decided to have only four dams at Tilaiya
Tilaiya
Tilaiya is a town in Koderma district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.-Geography:Tilaiya is located at .-Tilaiya Dam:...
, Konar
Konar Dam
Konar dam is the second of the four multi-purpose dams included in the first phase of the Damodar Valley Corporation.. It was constructed across the Konar River, a tributary of the Damodar River in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand and opened in 1955.Konar Dam is long and high...
, Maithon
Maithon
Maithon is a census town in Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is situated on the banks of river Barakar.The name has been derived from Maithan or Mai-Ka-Than or Ma-Er-Than, the "than" being a apa-bhransha or a local pronunciation of Sanskrit/Bangla "Sthan" for "place"...
and Panchet
Panchet
Panchet is a census town in Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.-Demographics: India census, Panchet had a population of 8,353. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Panchet has an average literacy rate of 67%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy...
, and Durgapur Barrage
Durgapur Barrage
Durgapur Barrage is across the Damodar River at Durgapur in Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal.-Overview:The Damodar River Valley Project on the Damodar River and its principal tributary, the...
.
The first dam was built across the Barakar River
Barakar River
The Barakar River is the main tributary of the Damodar River in eastern India. Originating near Padma in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand it flows for across the northern part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau, mostly in a west to east direction, before joining the Damodar near Dishergarh in Bardhaman...
at Tilaiya and inaugurated in 1953. Two years later, in 1955, the second dam across the Konar River
Konar River
The Konar River is a tributary of Damodar River in Hazaribagh and Bokaro districts of the Indian state of Jharkhand.-Course:The Konar originates near Sultana village on the Hazaribagh-Chatra Road.Thereafter, the Konar with its tributary Siwani drains a greater portion of the Hazaribagh plateau,...
was inaugurated. The third dam across the Barakar at Maithon was inaugurated in 1957, and the fourth dam across the Damodar at Panchet was inaugurated in 1959.
Location
The Damodar forms the border between Dhanbad district of Jharkhand and Purulia districtPurulia District
Purulia district is one of the nineteen districts of West Bengal state in eastern India. The town of Purulia is the administrative headquarters of the district.-History:...
of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, before meeting the Barakar at Dishergarh
Dishergarh
Dishergarh is a town under the Kulti Police Station in Asansol subdivision of Bardhaman district in the state of West Bengal. It is situated at the border of the Puruliya district and Bardhaman district in West Bengal. The Purulia - Barakar State Highway passes through Dishergarh...
and flowing fully through West Bengal.Panchet Dam has been constructed a little above its confluence with the Barakar. While Dhanbad district is on the northern bank of Panchet reservoir, Purulia district is on the southern bank. Panchet Hill rises above Panchet Dam.
Panchet Dam is 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from Chirkunda
Chirkunda
Chirkunda is a city and a notified area in Dhanbad district in the state of Jharkhand, India.-Demographics: India census, Chirkunda had a population of 39,121. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Chirkunda has an average literacy rate of 64%, higher than the national average of...
on Grand Trunk Road
Grand Trunk Road
The Grand Trunk Road also formerly known as Uttarapatha, Shah Rah-e-Azam or Sadak-e-Azam or Badshahi Sadak is one of South Asia's oldest and longest major roads...
, and 54 kilometres (33.6 mi) from Dhanbad
Dhanbad
Dhanbad features climate that is transitional between a humid subtropical climate and a tropical wet and dry climate. Summer starts from last week of March and ends in mid-June. Peak temperature in summer can reach 47oC. Dhanbad also receives heavy rainfall...
.It is 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) from Asansol
Asansol
Asansol is a coal mining and industrial metropolis and one of the busiest commercial centres in India. It is the second largest city and urban agglomeration in West Bengal after Kolkata and the 19th largest urban agglomeration in India. Asansol is located in the western part of the Burdwan...
.The nearest railway station is at Kumardhubi, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away, on the Grand Chord
Grand Chord
Grand Chord- also known as The Life line of India is a section of the Indian Railways and is one of the two parts of the main Delhi-Howrah route. It acts as a link between Sitarampur, and Mughal Sarai, Uttar Pradesh, and covers a stretch of 450 km...
line.
Details of the dam
The Panchet Dam is an earthen dam with concrete spillway. The reservoir taps a catchment area of 10961 square kilometres (4,232.1 sq mi). The average annual basin precipitation is 114 centimetres (44.9 in) and average annual run off is 4540 million m3. At the dam site the maximum observed flood (June 1949) was 8558 m³/s. For the project the spillway design flood that was adopted was 17853 m³/s. Two units of 40 MW have been installed for power generation.The four DVC dams are capable of moderating floods of 651000 cuft/s to 250000 cuft/s.
The Panchet Dam has a storage capacity of 170.37 million m3 to dead storage and 1497.54 m3 to top of gates. The reservoir covers an area of 27.92 km2 at dead storage level, 121.81 km2 at maximum conservation pool and 153.38 km2 at top of gates.
Salient features of Panchet Reservoir:
| Elevation (m) | Storage (million m3) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum draw down level | 119.50 | 170.26 |
| Spillway crest | 123.47 | 312.15 |
| Maximum conservation pool | 125.00 | 392.36 |
| Maximum flood control pool | 132.62 | 1058.62 |
| Full and maximum pool | 135.67 | 1475.65 |
| Top of dam | 139.33 | |
Historical ruins
Telkupi, a village under RaghunathpurRaghunathpur, Purulia
Raghunathpur is a subdivisional town in Purulia district of West Bengal, India. It is on the Purulia – Barakar road.-Geography:Raghunathpur is located at . It has an average elevation of . The area forms the lowest step of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. The general scenario is undulating land with...
police station, was submerged with the construction of Panchet Dam. Telkupi was capital of Tilakampa Kingdom, of which Panchakot Raj was probably a part. The ruins of the garh
Garh Panchkot
Garh Panchkot is located in the eastern part of India at the foot hills of Panchkot in the district of Purulia, West Bengal, the ruins of the Panchkot Palace are a silent testimony to the Bargi attack during the 18th century.- Overview :...
(fort) of the Singh Deo dynasty of Panchakot located at the southern foothills and a group of temples are still standing as mute spectators of the rise and fall of the dynasty. J.D.Beglar who visited Telkupi in 1902 described it as 'containing, perhaps, the finest and largest number of temples within a small space that is to be found in the Chutia Nagpur Circle in Bengal'. He listed over twenty temples and referred to several others and to 'numerous mounds, both of brick and stone’. Telkupi dates back to the 1st century AD.The temples submerged at Telkupi were Jain
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
temples
Inauguration impact
In 1959, Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
, then Prime Minister of India, was invited to inaugurate the newly constructed Panchet Dam. The officials selected two project workers, fifteen-year-old Santhal
Santals
The Santhal , are the largest tribal community in India, who live mainly in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam. There is also a significant Santal minority in neighboring Bangladesh, and a small population in Nepal....
girls Budhni Mejhan and Robon Majhi, to welcome the Prime Minister. Budhni Mejhan formally garlanded Nehru. When Budhni returned home to her village of Karbona, the village elders told her that since she had garlanded Nehru, she had effectively "married" him; and since Nehru wasn't a Santhal, she had married outside the community. As result of this "crime", she was chased out of the village and shunned by her family and neighbours. Later she found refuge in the house of Panchet resident Sudhir Dutta and had a daughter by him; the daughter is also rejected by the Santhal community. In 1962, the DVC fired Budhni from her staff position. In 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...
reinstated her at the DVC, but she and her daughter remain outcasts from their village.
Environmental opposition
In the 1950s, Kapil Bhattacharjee, South Asia's first modern environmental activist, fought against a highly popular project, the Damodar Valley Corporation, then being vended as the harbinger of unforeseen prosperity in Eastern India. He wrote about traditional knowledge systems dealing with rivers and about the dangers of large-scale intervention in nature.Impact of dam construction
The Damodar was once an endemic flood-prone river. The Maithon and Panchet dams, constructed in 1957 and 1959 respectively, have significantly reduced daily and annual discharge and also largely eliminated the extremes of flow so that ten-year recurrence interval floods have been reduced to half. Sediment trapping in reservoirs and the lack of flushing due to reduced peak discharge have inevitably transformed the lower Damodar basin into an ecologically imbalanced area.Fish culture
The Panchet reservoir is rather poor in terms of total dissolved salts as reflected by the specific conductivity values of 12.33 to 19 μmhos. Dissolved oxygen is low (0.66 to 2.8 mg 1-1) and the pH values range between 7.23 to 7.67. The reservoir was stocked only in 1958. The occurrence of catlaCatla
Catla catla, , also known as Indian Carp, is the only member of the genus Catla, of the carp family Cyprinidae. It is a fish with a large protruding lower jaw. It is commonly found in rivers and freshwater lakes in India , Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan...
, rohu
Rohu
Rohi or Rohu is a fish of the carp family Cyprinidae, found commonly in rivers and freshwater lakes in and around South Asia and South-East Asia. It is a herbivore. It is treated as a delicacy in Bangladesh, Nepal and the Indian states of Orissa, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh...
, mrigal
Mrigal
The Mrigal carp , also known as Indian Carp, is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Cirrhinus. Native to the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers of the Indian Subcontinent, it is extensively aquafarmed, with 463,520 t harvested in 2008....
and L. calbasu
Orangefin Labeo
Orangefin Labeo is a fish of the carp family Cyprinidae, found commonly in rivers and freshwater lakes in and around South Asia and South-East Asia....
in the fishery, without stocking indicates that the carps now reproduce in the reservoir.