India, May 1 -- Chandigarh

Efforts by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to clear decades of accumulated silt from the reservoirs of Bhakra Dam and Pong Dam have hit a roadblock, with high costs, poor response to tenders and absence of a clear policy stalling the progress.

The BBMB, which manages the two key northern dams, has acknowledged that sedimentation has consumed over one-fourth of the reservoirs' total storage capacity, reducing their efficiency for irrigation, hydropower generation and flood control.

At Gobind Sagar - the reservoir of Bhakra Dam built on Sutlej River - around 1.5 billion cubic metres (BCM) of storage has been lost to silt out of a total 6 BCM capacity. Officials say this loss is causing the reservoir to ...