MAITHON DAM, Dhanbad- Jharkhand

MAITHON DAM, Dhanbad- Jharkhand

The Maithon Dam is located at Maithon, 48 km from Dhanbad, in the state of Jharkhand India. It is 15,712 ft (4,789 m) long and 165 ft (50 m) high.

This dam was specially designed for flood control and generates 60,000 kW of electric power. There is an underground power station, the first of its kind in the whole of South East Asia. The dam is constructed on the Barakar River. The lake is spread over 65 square kilometres (25 sq mi).

The chief ministers of Bihar and West Bengal, Dr. Srikrishna Sinha and Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, persuaded central government about the benefits of this mega project. DVC is the first-ever multipurpose river valley project of independent India which came into being on July 7, 1948, by an act of Constituent Assembly (Act no. XIV of 1948). The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has its command area of approx 24,235 km2 spreading across the Damodar basin. The upper valley consists of two entire districts (Dhanbad and Bokaro) and eight districts partly in the state of Jharkhand. The lower valley on the other hand consists of five districts partly (Burdwan, Hooghly, Bankura, Howrah and Purulia) in the state of West Bengal.

DVC was set up with the intent of promoting and operating the schemes which may cause social and economic uplift in the valley region.