Built across the Son River near the Deolond village in Shahdol district of the state of Madhya Pradesh, the Bansagar Dam is a multipurpose river valley project. The purpose of the dam is both irrigation and 435 MW of hydroelectric power generation.

Etymology of Bansagar Dam
Named after the 7th century Sanskrit scholar Banabhatta, who is believed to have hailed from the same region, the project was thus called Bansagar.

History of Bansagar Dam
Initially in 1956, the Bansagar river valley project was called the Dimba Project by the Central Water Commission and was supposed to be constructed on the Son River at the confluence of the Son and Banas River about 30 km down from the present site. Finally on 14th May, 1978, the construction for the Bansagar Dam was started at the present site of Deolond.

Prior to the construction of the dam, the state governments of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had settled for an agreement, where they shared the expenditure in the ratio of 2:1:1. The dam was finally completed in the year 2006. The Bansagar Dam irrigates an area of 2,490 sq. km in Madhya Pradesh, 1,500 sq. km in Uttar Pradesh and 940 sq. km in Bihar.

Overview of Bansagar Dam
An earthen and masonry dam, the Bansagar Dam has a catchment area of 18,648 sq. km and stands at a height of 67 m. The foundation stone of the Bansagar project was laid by the late Prime Minister, Morarji Desai on 14th May, 1978. Eventually after almost 40 years, the Bansagar Dam was handed over to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15th July, 2018.

The Bansagar Dam at its full reservoir level submerged about 587 sq. km of land. 336 villages were submerged by the Bansagar Reservoir, out of which 79 villages are fully submerged and 257 are partially submerged.

This article is a stub. You can enrich by adding more information to it. Send your Write Up to content@indianetzone.com.