Damodar river basin is the first river basin the country selected for planning. Damodar bas occupies a total area of 13,425 sq. km drained by t Damodar River and its tributaries like Barakar, Kon Bokaro, Jamunia and Barki etc.
The river Damod is a tributary of the Hugli river and flows aero Bihar (Jharkhand) and West Bengal for about 541 km from its origin in the hills of Chotnagpur its confluence with the Hugli (270 km in Jharkhand and 271 km in West Bengal). The river drains through Hazaribag, Giridih, Dhanbad and Ranchi districts of Jharkhand and Puruliya, Bankura Barddhaman, Hugli and Haora districts of West Bengal.
The Damodar River flows through a rift valley lying between plateaus of Chotanagpur and Hazaribag in the north and Ranchi in the south. The average elevation of this plateau complex varies between 300 and 600 meters above the mean sea level. The river originates at an altitude of 510 meters above mean sea level and joins the Hugli River at an altitude of less than 30 meters above the mean sea level. This steep gradient of its valley exhibits the erosive power of the river.
The topography in its course is varied and undulating. Its descent from one surface level of the plateau to the other is sudden. Most of its major tributaries join the mainstream on its left bank. The confluence of the tributaries with the mainstream has provided break points which are suitable sites for locating hydel-power stations. The undulating nature of the topography and the faulted nature of the strata have not only favoured the extraction of coal but also provided suitable sites for damming the river.
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The region receives an annual rainfall of about 125 cm mostly concentrated in June-September period. At times heavy downpour is caused due to tropical cyclones starting from the Bay of Bengal. Generally, higher rainfall occurs on upper slopes than at the valley floor and more in the west than on the east. The erratic nature of rainfall, the heavy stormy rainfall and the peak stream flows pose a serious problem.
The rocks suffer weathering in the hot and humid climate causing much erosion over sandstones and shales. This huge debris leads to the choking of the rivers downstream causing disastrous floods in the Bengal plains. The deforestation in the upper hills further aggravates the situation. The plains below Barddhaman get submerged under flood waters, sometimes to a depth of 2 to 2.5 meters causing great damage to the life and property. Thus the river Damobar is notorious for its floods and is known as ‘the sorrow of Bengal’.
The devastating floods in 1823,1848,1859, 1863,1882,1890,1898, 1901,1905,1907,1913,1916,1923,1935,and 1943 are worthy of mention. Besides these major floods, minor floods are experienced every year. The huge quantities of sediments brought by the Damodar River create the problem of sedimentation in the Hugli River thereby adversely affecting the working of the Kolkata port.
In order to solve these problems and utilize the wasted water of the Damodar River, the Central Government in consultation with the governments of Bihar and West Bengal worked out a unified development project for the Damodar basin on the basis of the memorandum submitted by W.L. Voordurin, an engineer with the Tennessee Valley Authrority (TVA). Accordingly the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) was constituted on 18 February, 1948 by an Act of Parliament on the pattern of TVC of the USA.
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The project envisaged the construction of 7 major dams at Aiyar and Panchet Hill on the Damodar River; at Maithon, Belpahari and Tilaiya on the Barakar River; at Konar on the Konar rier; and at Bokaro on the Bokaro River. It is a multipurpose project with statutory functions of promotion and operation of schemes of irrigation; water supply and drainage, generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy and flood control; promotion of navigation and a forestation; control of soil erosion; and promotion of public health, agricultural, industrial and general well-being of the people in the basin area.
So far four dams at Tilaiya, Maithon, Konar and Panchet Hill have been constructed by the DVC besides the completion of three thermal power stations at Chandrapura, Bokaro and Durgapur along with a net-work of transmission and distribution lines. The salient features of the project are given below:
Tilaiya Dam-this is a concrete dam built across the Barakar River (length 366 m and height above the river bed 30 m). Its construction started in
1950 and the work was completed in 1953. It has a gross storage capacity of 395 million cubic meters and live storage capacity of 321 million cubic meters of water. The dam provides irrigation facilities to about 40,000 hectares of crop-land. Two power houses of 2,000 K W each has also been set up here.
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Konar Dam-it is an earthen dam with concrete spill-way built across the Konar river in Hazaribag district of Jharkhand. It is 3,549 m long and 49 m high (maximum) from the river bed.
It has gross storage capacity of 337 million cubic meters and live storage capacity of 276 million cubic meters. The construction of the dam was started in 1950 and the work was completed in 1955. It has a power house with total installed capacity of 10 megawatts. Besides providing irrigation facilities to 45,000 hectares of agricultural land it supplies hydel power to steel plant and clean water to the thermal power plant located at Bokaro.
Maithon Dam-it has been constructed on the Barakar River, a little upstream from its confluence with the Damodar River. Its construction started in 1951 and the work was completed in 1958. It is also an earthen dam with concrete spill-way with a length of 2,545 m and maximum height of 49 m from the river-bed.
It has a gross storage capacity of 1,357 million cubic meters. Its power house generates 60 mw of power which is supplied to the Indian copper and Aluminum Corporations.
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Panchet Hill Dam-This is also an earthen dam with concrete spill-way which has been built across the Damodar river. The construction of the dam was started in 1952 and the work was completed in 1959. The dam is 2,545 m long and 49 m high above the river bed. It has a gross storage capacity of 1,497 million cubic metres and live storage capacity of 1,307 million cubic meters. Besides providing irrigation facility to about 28 lakh hectares of agricultural land its power house generates.
(j) Promotion of industrial development in the region.
Soil Conservation and A forestation
Soils in the Damodar valley region are heav clays and loams. They are deep and heavy of flat coa layers or low-lying tracts and light, coarse anthem in the uplands. Most of the land in the upper parto the basin in Chotanagpur region of Jharkhand is relatively low fertility. The coal mining activity isai important cause of land degradation. The coal dust and coal ash adversely affect the soil fertility. Th mining and agricultural activities are leading gradual removal of the forest cover creating the problem of environmental degradation.
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The Damodar Valley Corporation has been entrusted with the task of soil conservation and a forestation. The main objective is to reduce soil erosion in the catchment area through soil conservation and a forestation and thereby save the reservoirs from heavy siltation. This problem of soil erosion is being tackled on watershed basis.
The measures adopted for soil-conservation include survey of soils taking into account the various “physic- chemical properties of the soils, degree of slope, extent of erosion, present land use and suitability of irrigation”, demonstration of better methods of land management and assessing the soil fertility.
A forestation within the catchment area of the Damodar river basin is being carried out by the forest division of the Corporation as well as the forest departments of the state governments of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Thermal Power
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There is a plan to set up 7 thermal power stations at Bokaro, Chandrapura, Duragapur, Sindri, Jamshedpur, Burnpur and Sitapur using local coal resources. Of these 3 power stations at Chandrapura, Bokaro and Durgapur have already been completed which together generate 1,545 MW of thermal power.
Economic Development
Damodar valley region is rich in mineral, forest and agricultural resources. The Chotanagpur plateau area abounding in coal, iron-ore, bauxite, copper, lead, mica, manganese, fire clay and graphite etc. is known as ‘mineral heartland of India’. Major coal fields of the area include Raniganj,
Soil Conservation and A forestation
Soils in the Damodar valley region are heav clays and loams. They are deep and heavy of flat coa layers or low-lying tracts and light, coarse anthem in the uplands. Most of the land in the upper parto the basin in Chotanagpur region of Jharkhand is relatively low fertility. The coal mining activity isai important cause of land degradation. The coal dust and coal ash adversely affect the soil fertility. Th mining and agricultural activities are leading gradual removal of the forest cover creating the problem of environmental degradation.
The Damodar Valley Corporation has been entrusted with the task of soil conservation and a forestation. The main objective is to reduce soil erosion in the catchment area through soil conservation and a forestation and thereby save the reservoirs from heavy siltation. This problem of soil erosion is being tackled on watershed basis.
The measures adopted for soil-conservation include survey of soils taking into account the various “physic- chemical properties of the soils, degree of slope, extent of erosion, present land use and suitability of irrigation”, demonstration of better methods of land management and assessing the soil fertility.
A forestation within the catchment area of the Damodar river basin is being carried out by the forest division of the Corporation as well as the forest departments of the state governments of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.