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Hirakud dam of Orissa
The place of natural beauty, Orissa shines through its natural as well as artificial developement. The rivers are flowed in Orissa with the capability of handling the dams like Godavari, Indrabati, Mahanadi and many more. After India was liberated from British rules the Hirakud dam is the first major valley project in India. Flood control is the main purposer of this project.There is something more about Hirakud dam below........
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 The total length of 4.8 km, and of 25.8km with dam and dykes the Hirakud Dam built on Mahanadi River is the longest dam in India to the north of district Samabalpur. The nearest rail station is Hirakud railway station which is 8 Kms from the dam. Hirakud Dam at Orissa provides about 1,25,054 hectares of Rabi and about 1,55,755 hectares of Kharif irrigation in the different parts of Orissa like Sambalpur, Subarnpur, Bolangiri, Bargarh etc.
Before the destroying floods in 1937, Sir M. Visveswararya proposed a complete investigation for storage reservoirs in the Mahanadi river to tackle the problem of floods in the Mahanadi river. It has an installed capacity of 307.5 MW. Hirakud Dam is a composite structure of Earth, Concrete and Masonry. The first layer of concrete was laid by Pandit Jawaharalal Neheru on 12th April 1948. The project was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru on 13th, January 1957. The two power houses of the dam are located at Chiplima and Burla. It provides flood protection in the districts of Puri and Cuttack. Power generation along with agricultural irrigation started in 1956, achieving full potential in 1966 Structure. A lovely revolving Minar at the top of the dam named Gandhi Minar is always attracted the visitors. It has also the rare distinct of forming the biggest artificial lake in Asia with reservoir spread of 743 sq Kms at full reservoir level. The dam has a total catchment area of 83600 square kilometers. Hirakud Dam is situated between the Chandili Dungiri and Laxmidungri hills. In the upper drainage basin of the Mahanadi River, centered on the Chattisgarh Plain, periodic droughts contrast with the situation in the lower delta region where floods may damage crops. Besides being the longest dam, Hirakud dam also has the biggest artificial lake in Asia. The Hirakud Dam regulates 83,474 km² of Mahanadi's drainage. With successful irrigation provided by the dam, Sambalpur is called the rice bowl of Orissa. Many Rice mill are spreaded in sambalpur. photography is strictly prohibited in the Dam site. The place is mostly inhabited by fisherman, whose deity ghanteswari is very popular in the neighbouring area. It is also a picnic spot. The State Livestock Breeding Farm and Agricultural Farm are located here.
The most nearest area of this dam in Hirakud is Gujatal where the people loves to catch fishes during the closing of gates of dam. In the time of closing peoples set their area in between the flow of water in front of the dam. During this season Hirakud market is always blinked with varieties of fishes. A Jawaharlal Nehru park is shown its beauty with different species of roses. Among all this twin city Hirakud always dedicate its beauty to visitors.
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Read related articles: Places to Visit in Orissa
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| Author: Prabhas Kumar Panda 25 May 2011 | Member Level: Silver Points : 1 | Hirakud dam is the longest dam in the world. but now a days it is not meeting the purpose, for which it has been built.
Government records show 3,509 farmers committed suicide in Orissa in the last 11 years.In the initial phase, it checked floods in the state's coastal areas, provided electricity to factories and homes and supplied ample water in the canals to grow a second crop every year.However, now these functions have been considerably reduced.
The installed system now hardly generates 30 percent of its installed hydro power capacity because of lack of adequate storage of water in the reservoir, obsolete technology and worn out machinery.
Everything has become a history now. no one pays attention to that. Such a Long dam is being neglected. if at all any maintenance is there which is not sufficient.
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