Over 40 percent of India's population does not have access to electricity and providing electricity for 24 hours in rural areas is a major challenge. For this the Indian government has envisioned several paths for its energy requirements, from nuclear to renewable. Despite greening its energy requirements, the government has taken various paths from bidding foreign oil well through diplomatic manoeuvring to establishing fossil fuel thermal plants. Meanwhile, hydro-power is one of the energy sources which oscillate between aspiration and achievements. But today there is a strong push for large hydro projects in India.
The Bhakra Nangal dam project is an icon. Policy-makers, media persons and even ordinary people very often credit it with bringing about the Green Revolution. The irrigation waters from the extensive canal network of the project situated on the river Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh — it also taps water from the river Beas — is said to have turned Punjab and Haryana into the nation's bread baskets.
In addition to preventing destructive floods, this multipurpose project irrigates the agricultural areas of Delhi,Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. The project generates 1 million kilowatt of hydro-electricity.
The lake created by the dam is a 97 km long, 6 km wide reservoir named Gobindsagar.Though located in Himachal Pradesh, the entrance to this dam is at Nangal in Punjab
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