Chandigarh, Sept 29 — The Gobind Sagar reservoir at Bhakra, once the pride of India’s Green Revolution, has lost nearly a quarter of its storage capacity to silt, raising serious concerns about flood management and water security for Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan.
Officials of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) confirmed that heavy silt deposits have reduced the 6 billion cubic metres (BCM) capacity of the reservoir to just 4.5 BCM. The problem, compounded by unusually heavy monsoon inflows this year and the narrowing of river courses downstream, has put the spotlight on the dam’s management.
“Effectively, we are down to just 4.5 BCM of space for storing the water,” BBMB chairman Manoj Tripathi told reporters earlier this month. He noted that the reduced capacity causes the reservoir to fill and empty more quickly, worsening flood risks in downstream areas.
A senior BBMB official, who asked not to be named, said the accumulated silt has formed mounds rising as high as 1,535 feet, about 10 km from the dam wall. “Annually, 40 BCM of silt is entering the reservoir against initial estimates of 35 BCM,” the official said.
The catchment areas of the Bhakra and Pong dams recorded unprecedented rainfall this monsoon. Between May 21 and September 20—the official filling season—the two reservoirs together received nearly 29 BCM of water, more than four times their combined designed capacity of 6 BCM.
As of Sunday, inflows into Bhakra were still measured at over 41,000 cusecs, far higher than the usual 20,000 cusecs seen in previous years. “The water that came into rivers was unprecedented, so now in the future we will have to plan the usage of reservoir water in such a way as to make space for the rainwater,” another BBMB official remarked.
Despite having spillway capacities of 2.97 lakh cusecs at Bhakra and 4.37 lakh cusecs at Pong, the maximum release during peak floods this August was limited to 80,000 cusecs from Bhakra and 1.10 lakh cusecs from Pong. “It caused havoc because our river courses downstream have shrunk,” the official added. Weak embankments in many districts compounded the damage.
The BBMB has begun drafting an action plan for de-silting, which Tripathi said would not require lowering water levels drastically. “We are working on dredging options and have identified Luhnu point for removing excessive silt,” he said, adding that discussions are ongoing with Himachal Pradesh, the upstream partner state.
Some experts argue for more aggressive steps. Former Punjab irrigation chief engineer A.S. Dullet questioned why BBMB does not lower water to the dead storage level, the reservoir’s lowest point. “By doing so, the silt angle will reduce and it will begin moving out of the dam into the river, creating more space for storage,” Dullet said. “It is very important to restart dredging, which was done earlier but later stopped.”
The Bhakra project, completed in the early 1960s, was the backbone of the Green Revolution. The assured irrigation transformed Punjab’s landscape, expanding paddy cultivation from 2.27 lakh hectares in the early 1960s to 11.83 lakh hectares within a decade. By 1990, paddy acreage had doubled again, enabling Punjab to supply nearly half of India’s rice. Wheat farming also rose sharply, from 14 lakh hectares to 33 lakh hectares in the same period.
Beyond agriculture, the vast lakes formed by Bhakra and Pong have become ecological treasures. The Pong reservoir is a Ramsar Wetland, drawing more than one lakh migratory birds from 220 species each year. The scenic habitats attract thousands of tourists, boosting the local economy even as the engineering challenges mount.
But as Tripathi acknowledged, the growing silt crisis and erratic rainfall patterns are reshaping how the dam must be managed. “The challenges are serious,” he said, “and we are working on solutions with all partner states.”
