M A I N   N E W S

Ravi no more flows into Pak
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Ranjit Sagar Dam, March 3 With the taming of the mighty River Ravi which meanders to the Indo-Pak border, no more of its water flows into Pakistan. With the completion of Ranjit Sagar Dam, Pakistan would no longer be able to wage a ‘proxy war’ with India by diverting the course of the river.  Since Pakistan had constructed strong studs across the border, it would invariably divert the water to the Indian side during the rainy season, causing floods along the border.

A view of Ranjit Sagar Dam: Precious water won’t go into Pakistan with completion of Thein Dam which will be dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister on Sunday.  — Photo Rajiv Sharma

On the other hand, the fertile land in Lahore district which used to be irrigated by the Ravi would now turn barren. Ranjit Sagar Dam (Thein Dam) is a gigantic multi-purpose river valley project constructed on the Ravi, 24 km upstream of the Madhopur Headworks.

Earlier, a mono-purpose storage dam was formulated/submitted by the Irrigation Department in 1957. With the signing of the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan in 1960, a multipurpose scheme (420MW) was prepared in 1964. The Punjab Government headed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal decided in December, 1977, to start the construction of the project. The project report, however, was approved by the Government of India in April, 1982.

The project has undergone a lot of changes in its technical parameters and the power generation has been increased to 600 MW. The construction of Ranjit Sagar Dam project is part of the total plan for the utilisation of the water of the three eastern rivers of the erstwhile Punjab, namely the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi for irrigation and power generation.

The Ranjit Sagar Dam project is located in seismically active zone of the Himalayas constituting the Shivalik range. The rock formations comprise alternate bands of sandstone and silt/clay shale. An inter-state agreement among Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and J and K was signed in 1979, giving the go-ahead for the execution of the project.

The job of security forces to keep vigil on the attempts of infiltration from across the border would become easier with the taming of the Ravi. The border security forces used to put up round-the-clock ‘boat nakas’, especially during rains, to keep a constant watch on smuggling and infilttration by miscreants. The river-bed was used by smugglers and ISI-sponsored agents to carry out subversive activities in India. However, Irrigation Department officials said that the entire waters of the Ravi could be tamed with the completion of the Shahpur Kandi project.

The General Manager of Ranjit Sagar Dam, Mr J.S. Randhawa, claimed that the project would generate 210 crore units of power annually if put to full capacity. In addition, the irrigation potential of 3.48 lakh hectares would be exploited. Mr Randhawa claimed that this would further enhance industrial and agricultural production worth Rs 500 crore per annum. The annual revenue receipt on account of sale of energy was also put at Rs 500 crore.

Development of fisheries, industrial development, flood control, reclamation of land along the river-bed, development of tourism and recreation facilities, socio-economic uplift of the people of the area etc are the other benefits of the project. Mr Chawla, Chief Engineer, said the Irrigation Department had already written to the Tourism Department to exploit the tourism potential of the project.

However, due to non-completion of the project within a scheduled timeframe, the cost of the project had witnessed a steep hike. There has been a big increase in the cost over the period since the first report was submitted in 1957 due to increase in the cost of land, escalation in cost of essential inputs and damages during unprecedented flashfloods in 1988.

Ranjit Sagar Dam, named after the legendry Maharaja Ranjit Singh is the highest earth core-cum-gravel shell dam of the country. The power plant has the second highest hydro-turbine in India and the project has the largest penstock in India.

The future projects on the Ravi basin include the 168-MW Shahpur Kandi Dam project, Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC)-stage three (75MW) and Shahpur Kandi extension hydel project (57 MW).