Dams in Madhya Pradesh :

Dams in Madhya Pradesh have been constructed over several rivers with the aim of providing water for the irrigation of agricultural lands. These dams also serve as the major source of drinking water and generation of hydro-electric power. Some of these dams are tourist destinations of the state. Dams in Madhya Pradesh help in boosting the economy in agriculture of the state to a large extent. Described below are some of the prominent dams in Madhya Pradesh like Bansagar Dam, Bargi Dam, Barna Dam and Gandhi Sagar Dam.

Bansagar Dam :

Bansagar Dam or Ban Sagar Dam is situated on the Ganga River Basin in a village called Deolond in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. It is a multipurpose river valley project, built on the Son River. The governments of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh decided upon an agreement in the year 1973 for the construction of the dam. The construction of this dam was initiated in the year 1978. The dam has a height of about 67 meters (220 ft) and a length of about 1,020 meters (3,350 ft). The main purpose of constructing the dam was to improve both hydroelectric power generation and irrigation.

Bargi Dam :

Bargi Dam is situated in Bargi in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh. This is the first dam of its kind which was constructed over the Narmada River. The construction work of the Bargi Dam was initiated in the year 1974 and was completed in the year 1990, when the dam reached its full capacity. The dam has a height of about 69 meters and a length of about 5357 meters. This dam is one of the chief sources of water and its water is also utilized for the generation of hydro electric power.

Barna Dam :

Barna Dam, situated in Badi tahsil in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh has been constructed over the Barna River. The dam was opened in the year 1978. It has a height of nearly 47.7 meters (156 ft) and a length of about 432 meters (1,417 ft). This dam acts as a prime source of irrigation.

Gandhi Sagar Dam :

Gandhi Sagar Dam, situated in the Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh has been constructed on Chambal River. The construction of this dam was started in 1954 and was completed in 1970. Water Resources Department of Madhya Pradesh is in charge of maintaining the Gandhi Sagar Dam. This dam has a height of around 62.17 meters and a length of about 514 meters.

Rajghat Dam :

Rajghat Dam is situated in Ashok Nagar district in Madhya Pradesh and at a distance of about 22 kilometers from Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh. The dam stands on the Betwa River. It is an inter-state project constructed in collaboration of the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Narmada Dam :

The Narmada Dam Project is a project concerning the construction of a chain of large hydroelectric dams on the Narmada River in India. The country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru planned this project during the 1940s. The project started officially in 1979 as part of a development scheme to enhance the facilities of irrigation and also produce hydroelectricity.

The Narmada Dam Project brought about several benefits that are mentioned in the Judgement of Supreme Court of India. The benefits expected to generate from the implementation of the Sardar Sarovar Project. The expected benefits of the dam include irrigation capacity across 17,920 km² of land spread over 12 districts, 62 talukas and 3393 villages (75% of which is drought-stricken areas) in Gujarat and 730 km² in the dry areas of Barmer and Jalore districts of Rajasthan.

In March 2006, the Narmada Control Authority approved for the height of the dam to increase from 110.64 metres to 121.92. Narmada Bachao Andolan was closely associated with the Narmada Dam Project.

Tawa Reservoir :

Tawa Reservoir is in Hoshangabad District of Madhya Pradesh state. It is a large reservoir on the Tawa River in central India. The reservoir was created only after the construction of the Tawa Dam, which began in 1958 and was completed in 1978. While the construction of the reservoir, almost forty-four villages were submerged by the reservoir.

Tawa Reservoir is nestled between the western boundary of Satpura National Park and Bori Wildlife Sanctuary. The catchment area of Tawa Reservoir is 5982.9 km² and surface area is 225 km².

Indirasagar Project :

Indira Sagar Project is popularly known, as the ISP. It is a multipurpose key project of Madhya Pradesh on the Narmada River at Narmadanagar in District Khandwa of Madhya Pradesh in India. Late Smt Indira Gandhi, (Ex Prime Minister of India) laid the foundation stone of this project on 23rd October 1984. The construction of main dam began in 1992. The down stream projects of ISP are Maheshwar, Omkareshwar and Sardar Sarovar Project. The Project designed the construction of a 92 m high and 653 m long concrete gravity dam.

Indira Sagar Project provides irrigation across 1,230 square kilometres of land.