"... these days the biggest temple and mosque and gurudwara is the place for the good of mankind. Which place can be greater than this, this Bhakra-Nangal, where thousands and lakhs of men have worked, have shed their blood and sweat and laid down their lives as well?" - Jawaharlal Nehru. A dam is a dam but Bhakra is a landmark, a landmark of Independent India. As Jawaharlal Nehru said, "It is a landmark because it has become a symbol of a nation's will to march forward with strength, determination and courage."

Though the idea to raise a dam across the River Sutluj was irst mooted as far back as in 1908, work on it could begin only after independence in 1948. Building the dam wa a tremendous chalenge. The terrain was treacherous and infrastructure non-existent. Everything ws being done for the frst time. Yet, all challenges were overcome, and the dam was dedicated to the nation by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 22nd October, 1963. The waters going waste were tapped to irregate 26.3 lakh hectares of parched fields, improve irigation in another 8.9 lakh hectares, and to provide power to agriculture, industry and homes in 13,000 villages and 128 towns. Te Bhakra-Nangal Project has yielded directly over one hundred times its cost during the last 25 years of its operation.

Bhakra, the second highest straight gravity concrete dam in the world is 225.55m high, 518.16m long and 9.14m wide at the top with about eight km long network of galleries inside for instrument panels, pipelines and monitoring offices. The reservoir created by the dam, named Gobind Sagar after Guru Gobind Singh, is 168.35 km in area and has a gross storage capacity totalling 9621 million cu m or 7.80 million acre ft. On its banks are two power plants with an installed capacity of 1200 MW. Today, togather with Ganguwal, Kotla, Pong and Dahar power plants, the Bhakra Beas Management Board has a total installed generation capacity of 2704 MW.

Bhakra, always dearest to the heart of Nehru, is a splendid example of inter-State co-operation in river water management. The Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Celebrations in the country commence and coincide with the Silver Jubilee of the Dedication of the Bhakra Dam of the Nation.

The Dep[artment of Posts is issuing a special postage stamp to commemorate te Silver Jubilee of the Dedication of Bhakra to the Nation on 22nd October, 1988.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India