Pong Dam

About Pong Dam:

• The Pong Dam, also known as the Beas Dam, is an earth-fill embankment dam constructed on the river Beas in the wet land of Shivalik hills in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
• The purpose of the dam is water storage for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation.
• The construction of the dam began in the year 1961 and was completed in 1974, and at that time it was known as the tallest of its type in the country.
• The raised water level thus invariably created an artificial lake called the Maharana Pratap Sagar, after the great ruler of Mewar.
  • It was declared a bird sanctuary in 1983 due to its waterfowl diversity. It received the designation of Ramsar Wetland in 2002.
  • It is home to several species of avifauna, some of which include Barheaded Geese, Red-neck Grebe, northern lapwing, common teal, spot-billed duck, Eurasian coot, black stork, egrests, etc.
  • It is the most important fish reservoir in the foothills of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh.
• Features of Dam:
  • The Pong Dam is a 133 m tall and 1,951 m long earth-fill embankment dam with a gravel shell. 
  • It is 13.72 m wide at its crest, which sits at an elevation of about 435.86 m above sea level.
  • The base of the Pong Dam is about 610 m wide and has a total volume of 35,500,000 metre cube. 

Q1: Which are the major tributaries of Beas river?

The major tributaries of the Beas River are Bain, Banganga, Luni, and Uhal, along with Banner, Chakki, Gaj, Harla, Mamuni, Parvati, Patlikuhlal, Sainj, Suketi, and Tirthan.

News: Pong dam displacement: 5 decades on, over 6k families still await rehabilitation