Revamp of Bhakra Dam is on the card; Himachal, BBMB to fill its coffers; partner states also to get a piece of the pie
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ December 3,2025
When it opened in 1963, Bhakra Dam was called a “New Temple of Resurgent India” by Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. Today the dam is threatened as its reservoir rapidly fills with silt.
But, now after 61 years of dedication to the nation, the Bhakra Dam is set to undergo its first-ever desilting after the BBMB authorities vigorously pursued the case with HP govt and the same has given its nod. Desilting is crucial for the long-term operational life and flood management capabilities of the dam.
An official on the condition of anonymity said, “the Himachal Pradesh government has given a green signal in principal to Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB)’s proposal, suggestion to allow desilting in the Satluj River, as the reservoir is under its jurisdiction. The Sukhu led Congress government in Himachal is taking up the matter in the Vidhan Sabha . In addition, the Union Jal Shakti Ministry has also formed a 10-member committee for the process as the dam’s reservoir has never been desilted since its inception”.
As per the proposal given by the BBMB, “Himachal Pradesh government will get the royalty on sand mining and the over and above amount will go in the kitty of BBMB. Like if BBMB sells the sand at Rs 100, HP government will get its fixed royalty of say Rs 65. Than the reaming Rs 35 will go in the kitty of BBMB. This will increase the revenue, income of HP govt, BBMB and its partner states and will also solve the silt issue of the dam.”
As per sources, “the BBMB has suggested a site in Bilaspur to the Himachal Pradesh government from where the desilting of the dam is bested suited to everyone. At that site for around 8-9 months the water level is reduced and fit for excavation of the sedement. The site is on NHAI and is technically suitable to do the desilting and the material can be easily loaded from the river bed and move further to its destination, anywhere in North India/ India.”
As per available information, the river has so much of sediment that if thousands of trucks deputed round the clock for 8-9 months, every year, it will still takes years to clear as so much of sediment is lying .”
As per sources, BBMB authorities has also requested the NHAI to take this sediment for earthen filling , road construction so that it is used and cost of road construction will also come down.”
The Bhakra reservoir, known as Gobind Sagar Lake, is one of the largest man-made lakes in the country. Spread over 88 sq km across Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Una districts of Himachal Pradesh, the lake’s original storage capacity was 7.4 billion cubic metres, which has reduced to around 6 lakh billion cubic metres due to silt. When the dam was constructed, the reservoir was expected to receive 33.61 million cubic metres of silt annually. But now with the passage of time, urbanization, deforestation, construction activities the silt inflow increases to 39.01 million cubic metres in 61 years (1964-2025). The reservoir’s storage ranges between the minimum of 1,462 feet and the maximum 1,680 feet.
As per sources, “the trap efficiency has also been increased from 85 percent to 99.4 percent. The Live Storage has been reduced to 19 percent and Dead storage has reached 47 percent. Overall around 26 percent has been filled with sediment, significantly decreases its effective water-holding capacity. “
”Though the sediment has not yet reached near the dam site, it’s still 10 km away from the Bhakra Dam but every year the inflow is increasing and shortening the water storage capacity”.
As per expert, “rise in construction activity, four laning of highways, deforestation , natural erosion etc in the Sutlej catchment areas in Himachal are the main reasons which have contributed to the silt problem. The silt inflow particularly rose between 2003 and 2015 when the Kol Dam was being constructed upstream on the Sutlej in Bilaspur, than from2018-2022 when the four laning of roads were going on. Earlier the roads constructed under PMGSY, that too disturbed the situation.
If the project gets nod in time, the BBMB will do this as a pilot project for one year. Meanwhile, no Himachal government , BBMB senior officials were contacted for comments.
