In this article we will discuss about some of the important irrigation projects of India.
1. Andhra Pradesh:
I. Nagarjunasagar Project:
i. Location — Across river Krishna in Nalgonda district.
ii. Type — Composite earth and masonry dam.
iii. Size — 4865 m long and 125 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 8.3 lakh ha.
II. Pochampad Project:
i. Location — Across river Godavari in Adilabad district.
ii. Type — Masonry dam with earthen flanks.
iii. Size — 812 m long and 43 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 2.67 lakh hectares.
III. Godavari Barrage:
i. Location — Nearly 45 metres upstream of old anicut across Godavari river in East Godavari district.
ii. Type — Barrage.
iii. Size — 3600 m long with 175 bays.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 5.2 lakh ha.
2. Bihar:
I. Gandak Project:
i. Location — Across river Gandak at Valmikinagar in Champaran district.
ii. Type — Barrage, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 740 m long.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 15.07 lakh hectares in India and Nepal. 15,000 KW Power house as a gift to Nepal.
II. Kosi Project:
i. Location — Across river Kosi near Hanuman Nagar on Indo-Nepal border.
ii. Type — Barrage, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 144 m long.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 4.34 lakh ha. 20 MW hydro power potential. 120 km long flood protection embankments.
3. Chhattisgarh:
I. Hasdeo Bango Project:
i. Location — Across the Hasdeo river in Bilaspur district.
ii. Type — A multi-purpose project.
iii. Size — A dam to store water, and a barrage to enable diversion of water. 85 m high and 2505 m long masonry dam with earthen flanks 1955 m long.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 33.28 lakh ha. Generates 120 MW power at dam site. Diverts cooling water for Korba thermal power station at barrage.
4. Gujarat:
I. Ukai Project:
i. Location — Across river Tapi in Surat district.
ii. Type — Composite earth and masonry dam, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 4928 m long and 68.6 m high.
iv. Benefits — Irrigates 1.58 lakh hectares. Generates 300 MW power.
II. Kakrapar Project:
i. Location — Across river Tapi near Kakrapar in Surat district.
ii. Type — Pick-up weir (Ogee shaped).
iii. Size — 621 m long and 14 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 2.28 lakh ha.
III. Mahi Project (Stage I):
i. Location — Across river Mahi in Kaira district.
ii. Type — Pick-up weir.
iii. Size — 796 m long and 20.6 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 1.86 lakh ha.
IV. Kadana Project (Mahi Stage II):
i. Location — Across river Mahi near Kadana.
ii. Type — Composite masonry and earth dam.
iii. Size — Masonry dam 762 m long and 66 m high. Earth dam 1430 m long and 58 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 90,000 ha and supplements area under stage I.
V. Sardar Sarover Project:
i. Location — On the border of Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh across river Narmada.
ii. Type — Inter-State, multipurpose, concrete gravity dam.
iii. Size — 1210 m long 163 m high.
iv. Benefit — It will irrigate 18 lakh ha in Gujarat and 0.75 lakh ha in Rajasthan. Provides drinking water to large population in Gujarat 1200 MW river bed power house, and 250 MW canal head power house.
5. Haryana:
I. Gurgaon Canal Project:
i. Location — Gurgaon canal system branches off from Agra canal which takes off from Okhla head-works. It lies in Gurgaon and Bharatpur districts of Haryana and Rajasthan.
ii. Type — Remodelling and extension of existing system.
iii. Benefit — Irrigates 1.06 lakh ha.
II. Western Yamuna Canal Remodeling:
i. Location — Takes off from Tajewala head-works. It lies in Karnal, Rohtak, Jind and Hissar districts.
ii. Type — Remodelling and extension of existing system.
iii. Benefit — Improvement in irrigation to 4.25 lakh ha. Extension of irrigation to 2.48 lakh ha.
III. Jawaharlal Nehru Lift Irrigation Scheme:
i. Location — Jawaharlal Nehru feeder canal system is located in Mahendragarh, Bhiwani and Rohtak districts.
ii. Type — Lift irrigation scheme.
iii. Benefit — Irrigates 1.55 lakh ha.
6. Jammu and Kashmir:
I. Ravi Canal Project:
i. Location — Takes off from the tail race of Thein dam power plant. Lies in Jammu area.
ii. Type — Gravity canal system.
iii. Benefit — Irrigates 0.53 lakh ha.
II. Tawi Lift Canal Project:
i. Location — On left bank of Tawi river near Bahu fort.
ii. Type — Pumped canal system.
iii. Benefit — Irrigates 0.14 lakh ha.
7. Karnataka:
I. Tungabhadra Project:
i. Location — Across river Tungabhadra in Bellary district.
ii. Type — Masonry dam, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 2440 m long and 49.39 m high.
iv. Benefits — Irrigates 3.3 lakh ha in Andhra and Karnataka States. Installed power capacity 99 MW.
II. Bhadra Project:
i. Location — Across river Bhadra in Chickmagulur district.
ii. Type — Masonry dam with earthen flanks, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 440.5 m long 71.6 m high.
iv. Benefits — Irrigates 1 lakh ha. Generates 25 MW power.
III. Upper Krishna Project:
i. Location — Across river Krishna near Narayanpur.
ii. Type — Masonry dam with earthen flanks.
iii. Size — 10637 m long and 30 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 4 lakh ha.
IV. Maiaprabha Project:
i. Location — Across river Maiaprabha in Belgaum district.
ii. Type — Masonry dam.
iii. Size — 154.6 m long 44 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 2.07 lakh ha.
V. Ghataprabha Project:
i. Location — Across river Ghataprabha in Belgaum district.
ii. Type — A composite dam and also a masonry weir 19 km downstream.
iii. Size — 4360 m long and 50 m high (dam). 2085 m long and 9 m high (weir).
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 3.36 lakh ha.
8. Kerala:
I. Kallada Project:
i. Location — Across river Kallada about 72 km from Thiruanantapuram.
ii. Type — Masonry dam and pick-up weir 4.8 km downstream.
iii. Size — 335 m long and 73.48 m high (dam). 121 m long and 9 m high (weir).
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 1.05 lakh ha.
9. Madhya Pradesh:
I. Chambal Project:
i. Location — Three dams and a barrage across river Chambal in Mandsaur and Bundi districts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively.
ii. Type — A chain of three dams and a barrage built in masonry, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — Gandhi Sagar dam 514 m long and 63.7 m high. Rana Pratap Sagar dam 1143 m long and 54 m high. Jawahar Sagar dam 336 m long and 41.77 m high. Kota barrage 551.83 m long and 39 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 5.03 lakh ha in M.P. and Rajasthan. Generates 363 MW power.
II. Tawa Project:
i. Location — Across river Tawa in Hoshangabad district.
ii. Type — Earth-cum-masonry dam.
iii. Size — 1627 m long 58 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 3.32 lakh ha.
III. Narmada Sagar Project:
i. Location — Across Narmada river in Khandwa district.
ii. Type — A multipurpose inter-State project of M.P.; Gujarat; Maharashtra and Rajasthan. It comprises of a concrete dam.
iii. Size — 94.4 m high and 640 m long.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 1.69 lakh ha in M.P. Generates 1000 MW hydro power. Supplies water to Sardar Sarover project of Gujarat.
IV. Bansagar Project:
i. Location — Across river Sone in Rewa district.
ii. Type — A multipurpose inter-State project. Masonry dam with rock fill flanks.
iii. Size — 63 m high masonry dam 790.7 long.
iv. Benefit — This is a joint venture of U.P., M.P. and Bihar. Each State has to prepare separate canal network to use stored water in the ratio 1:2:1. M.P. generates 405 MW power from this project.
10. Maharashtra:
I. Bhima Project:
i. Location — Two dams and series of weirs across the rivers – Pawana and Bhima.
ii. Type — Composite dams.
iii. Size — Pawana dam 1319m long and 42 m high. Ujjani dam 2467 m long and 56 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 1.73 lakh ha.
II. Jayakwadi Project:
i. Location — Two dams across river Godavari near Paithan and river Sindhphana.
ii. Type — The project envisages inter-linking of two reservoirs. Paithan dam is composite and the other is earth dam.
iii. Size — Sindhphana dam 6090 m long and 31 m high. Paithan dam 9964 m long and 37 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 2.77 lakh ha.
11. Orissa:
I. Hirakud Project:
i. Location — Across river Mahanadi near Sambalpur.
ii. Type — Composite dam, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 4801 m long and 61 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 2.54 lakh ha. Generates 270 MW power. Flood protection to d/s area.
II. Mahanadi Delta Project (Stage I & II):
i. Location — Delta of Mahanadi.
ii. Type — Diversion Scheme, utilises regulated releases from Hirakud dam.
iii. Benefit — Irrigates 5.58 lakh ha (new area) and stabilises irrigation of 2.93 lakh ha (existing area).
12. Punjab:
I. Bhakra Nangal Project:
i. Location — Across river Sutlej in Bilaspur district.
ii. Type — A straight gravity dam and a barrage 13 km d/s; multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 518m long and 226 m high dam and 305 m long and 29 m high barrage.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 14.6 lakh ha in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Installed power capacity of 1204 MW.
II. Beas Project (Beas-Sutlej Link Scheme) Unit I:
i. Location — Across river Beas at Pandoh.
ii. Type — Diversion dam with a Beas-Sutlej link. It is a multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 61m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 3.2 lakh ha in Haryana and Punjab. Installed capacity 660 MW at Debar power plant. 145 MW power through Bhakra power plant.
III. Beas Project (Pong Dam Project) Unit II:
. Location — Across river Beas at Pong.
ii. Type — Earth cum-gravel fill dam, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 1876 m long and 132.6 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 16.5 lakh ha in Punjab and Rajasthan through Rajasthan canal. Installed capacity 360 MW.
IV. Harike Barrage Project:
i. Location — A barrage across the Sutlej river in Ferozepur district below confluence of the Beas river.
ii. Type — Diversion scheme.
iii. Size — A barrage 636 m long.
iv. Benefit — Feeds water to Ferozepur feeder, Makhu canal and Rajasthan canal.
V. Shah Nahar Feeder Project:
i. Location — A barrage 3.2 km downstream of Pong dam; feeds existing Shah Nahar inundation canal.
ii. Type — Diversion scheme and remodelling of existing canal system.
iii. Benefit — Stabilisation of irrigation of 0.28 lakh ha. Extension of irrigation to 0.64 lakh ha.
VI. Thein Dam Project:
i. Location — Across Ravi river 24 km upstream of Madhopur headworks.
ii. Type — Multipurpose project.
iii. Size — A 147 m high dam.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 3.49 lakh ha. through Ravi doab canal system. Installed power capacity 480 MW.
13. Rajasthan:
I. Mahi-Bajaj Sagar project:
i. Location — Across Mahi river in Banswara district.
ii. Type — Composite dam, diversion channel and pick-up weir across Kagdi river.
iii. Size — 3012 m long and 57 m high dam.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 0 7 lakh ha in Rajasthan. Feeds Mahi project of Gujarat.
II. Rajasthan Canal Project:
i. Location — Canal takes off from Harike barrage at the confluence of rivers Beas and Sutlej.
ii. Type — Diversion scheme, utilises surplus waters of rivers Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.
iii. Size — 649 km long canal with a head discharge of 523.8 cumec.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 12.59 lakh ha in Rajasthan.
14. Tamil Nadu:
I. Lower Bhavani Project:
i. Location — A dam across Bhavani river in Coimbatore district.
ii. Type — Earthen dam.
iii. Size — 8799 m long and 62 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 79,000 ha.
II. Parambikulam Aliyar Project:
i. Location — A joint project with Kerala in Annamalai hills.
ii. Type — Eight dams are connected by tunnels
iii. Benefit — Irrigates 1.01 lakh ha in Coimbatore district and Chittur area of Kerala.
15. Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal:
I. Ramganga Project:
i. Location — Across river Ramganga in Garhwal district.
ii. Type — An earth and rock fill dam, multipurpose scheme.
iii. Size — 626 m long and 127.5 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 5.91 lakh ha. Installed power capacity 198 MW. Supplies 5.66 cumec water to Delhi water supply scheme.
II. Sarda Sahyak Project:
i. Location — A barrage across Ghagra river in Bahriach district. A barrage across Sarda river.
ii. Type — Diversion scheme to feed existing canal system.
iii. Size — 28 km feeder canal between two barrages. 260 km long feeder to feed existing canal system.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 17.28 lakh ha.
III. Tehri Dam Project:
i. Location — Across river Bhagirathi in Tehri district.
ii. Type — Multipurpose dani.
iii. Size — 260.5 m high dam.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 6.67 lakh ha through existing Lower and Upper Ganga canal systems after remodelling. Installed capacity of power house 600 MW.
IV. Matatila Project:
i. Location — Across river Betwa in Jhansi district.
ii. Type — Earthen dam.
iii. Size — 6378 m long and 36.6 m high.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 1.20 lakh ha.
V. Raj Ghat Dam Project:
i. Location — Across river Betwa on Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border in Lalitpur and Guna districts.
ii. Type — A multipurpose inter-State project. Masonry dam with earthen flanks.
iii. Size — 538.5 metres long and 44.5 m high.
iv. Benefit — This is a joint venture of M.P. and U.P. Each State has to prepare its own canal network separately. 45 MW hydro power station.
16. West Bengal:
I. Damodar Valley Project:
i. Location — Across Damodar river and its tributaries.
ii. Type — A system of four dams and a barrage, it is a multi-purpose scheme.
iii. Size — Tilaiya dam 366 m long and 30 m high. Konar dam 3548 m long and 48.8 m high. Maithon 1005 m long composite dam. Panchet 2570 m long composite dam. Durgapur barrage 672 m long 11.6m high.
iv. Benefits — Irrigates 3.64 lakh ha. Installed power capacity 104 MW.
II. Kangsabati Project:
i. Location — Across river Kangsabati and its tributary Kumari in Bankura district.
ii. Type — A common barrier on both the rivers 3 km upstream of confluence of two rivers.
iii. Size — 7000 m long dam including dykes.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 4.01 lakh ha.
III. Teesta Barrage Project:
i. Location — Across Teesta river in Jalpaiguri district.
ii. Type — Barrage with canal network.
iii. Size — 921.5 m long with 45 bays.
iv. Benefit — Irrigates 3.42 lakh ha in West Bengal and 27,000 ha in Bihar. Generation of 67.5 MW hydropower from canal falls.