Hoshiarpur/Daljeet Ajnoha/June 30 : Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) celebrated the 52nd Foundation Day of Pong Dam today and organized a technical workshop to mark the occasion. Chairman BBMB, Er. Manoj Tripathi attended the event as the Chief Guest. He paid floral tribute at the Martyrs’ Memorial at Dam and participated in the annual worship ceremony.
Addressing the gathering, Er. Manoj Tripathi paid homage to the engineers and employees who sacrificed their lives during the construction of the dam and appreciated the contribution of all officers and staff involved in successfully operating the project.
He stated that Pong Dam, recognised as India’s largest earth-fill dam, has played a significant role in irrigation and power generation by providing water to nearly 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land and generating over 73,358 million units of electricity so far. He also announced that a project to enhance the power house capacity from 396 MW to 432 MW will be initiated soon.
During the technical workshop, the Chairman described Bhakra and Pong Dams as symbols of modern India’s development. He highlighted that Pong Dam has a storage capacity of 8.7 BCM and is the second largest reservoirs in Northern India on the basis of water storage capacity.
The Chairman also announced the addition of two new fire tenders, one new boat and further development of the area as a tourism destination, including the upgradation of the Rock Garden.
Earlier, on arrival at the venue, Chief Engineer Rakesh Gupta welcomed Chairman Er. Manoj Tripathi and other dignitaries and expressed confidence that in the coming years, the dam would continue to serve the nation in an even better and more efficient manner.
Technical presentations on dam operations, rule curve policy and emergency safety systems were delivered by Dy Chief senior engineer Manveen Chaudhary and Project Engineer Neeraj Chauhan. Several senior BBMB officials were also present on the occasion.
