Rajasthan News Desk!!! Bisalpur is the name which fulfills all the water needs of 1 crore people of Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur including Tonk, Ajmer, Kishangarh, Beawar and Jaipur Rural. This is the dam with the highest water holding capacity in Rajasthan. More than 4 lakh farmers of 5 districts in Rajasthan depend on the water coming out of this 18-gate dam. This dam has been constructed at the confluence of Banas, Khari and Dai rivers amidst the Aravali mountain ranges near Bisalpur village.
The foundation stone of Bisalpur Dam was laid on 25 January 1985 by the then Chief Minister of the state, Shiv Charan Mathur. Initially the main objective of construction of this dam was to supply water to Jaipur and Ajmer and to do irrigation work with the remaining water. The construction work of Bisalpur Dam started in 1987 and was completed in the year 1996. At that time the cost of construction of this dam was about Rs 300 crore. Talking about the catchment area of the dam, it is spread over approximately 28 thousand 800 square kilometers. Its total waterlogged area covers 21 thousand 300 hectares of land. There are a total of 68 villages in the submergence area of Bisalpur Dam, out of which 25 villages are completely and 43 villages are partially included in it.
Bisalpur Dam is called the lifeline of Jaipur, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Tonk and Dausa. Bisalpur Dam is currently quenching the thirst of about one crore population of the state. Since the construction of the dam, water supply has been going on continuously in Ajmer city as well as in the villages and towns of the district. From the year 2009, Bisalpur Dam started providing drinking water to Jaipur city and rural areas also. After this, water supply from this dam was also started in Tonk, Devli, Uniara areas from the year 2018. After this, 438 villages and towns of these districts are getting water supply from this dam. Presently, about 480 MLD water per day is supplied from the dam to Jaipur city, 330 MLD Ajmer, 52 MLD Malpura-Dudu, 53 MLD Chaksu and 50 MLD Bisalpur to Deoli Tonk and Uniara cities and 436 villages and towns associated with it under the Tonk Uniara drinking water project. Water is being given in.
After the construction of Bisalpur Dam, it was handed over to the Bisalpur Project from the Irrigation Department in 1999. In 2001, under PHED, water supply was started in the concerned districts of the district including Ajmer and Beawar by preparing pumping station at Bisalpur Intake and Thadoli. Here, in 2006, the construction of the state’s largest filter plant started in Surajpura near Thadoli, along with this, a project worth about Rs 1100 crore was prepared for Surajpura filter plant and Jaipur water supply pipe lines. In the first phase, the project was started in Surajpura from 2005 and at a cost of Rs 556 crore, 2400 mm raw pipeline from Bisalpur Intake Pump, Surajpura Filter Plant, 400 MLD CWR and water supply pipeline from the plant to Balawala, Jaipur were constructed. After the completion of this work, water supply was started in these areas from April 2009.
In the second phase, rural water supply was started in 2012 after the completion of the work of Malpura-Dudu water supply pipeline and Jhirana-Niwai Chaksu pipeline in Bisalpur Rural Water Supply Project. After the increase in demand for water, in 2019, a CWR of 200 MLD was constructed in the Surajpura Filter Plant complex at a cost of Rs 122 crore and the capacity of the plant was increased from 400 MLD to 600 MLD. At present, 480 MLD water is being supplied to Jaipur from Surajpura Filter Plant and 53 MLD water is being supplied to rural areas through Malpura-Dudu water supply pipeline and 52 MLD through Jhirana-Niwai Chaksu pipeline.
Water comes into Bisalpur Dam from Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, Ajmer and Tonk districts, which is considered as catchment area. According to the engineers of the dam project, the main inflow of water into the dam is believed to be from Chittorgarh and Bhilwara districts, in which Banas river is the main source of inflow. At the same time, Khari and Dai rivers are also helpful in filling the water. Matrikundiya, Gowta, Kothari, Jaitpura are the main dams before Bisalpur dam in Banas river.
The main source of water inflow into Banas is the famous Menal waterfall, whose water comes into the Govta Dam. After the overflow of Govta Dam, the water joins Menali River and reaches Triveni. In Triveni, Banas, Bedach and Menali rivers together form Triveni Sangam and this is where the ancient temple of Mahadev is built, which is the center of people’s faith. Further beyond Triveni River, the water starts as Banas River, which receives small tributaries including Kothari River, Uwali River, Nagdi River. And this water of Banas river reaches Bisalpur dam. Triveni is considered to be the main source of inflow of water into Bisalpur Dam.
This multi-purpose dam is important to meet the irrigation needs of the western region of Rajasthan. Its canal irrigates about 2 lakh hectares of land, benefiting millions of farmers and increasing agricultural productivity. The dam has a hydroelectric power plant, with an installed capacity of 162 MW. This plant contributes significantly to the electricity production of the state. Bisalpur Dam plays an important role in the development of Rajasthan and raises the economy and standard of living of the people of the state by providing irrigation, drinking water supply, and power generation.
Bisalpur Dam is one of the major places of Rajasthan from tourism point of view. Tourists from many districts including Jaipur, Ajmer come here to see the scene of water being released from the dam during monsoon and rains. The famous Gokarneshwar Mahadev Temple located near Bisalpur Dam is the center of faith for millions of people. It is said that Ravana had performed penance here for a long time. Due to this belief, there is a continuous flow of devotees in this temple during the month of Shravan.
