Tehri

Tehri State :-

        Tehri state came into existence on 29th December 1815 at the confluence of Bhagirathi & Bhilangana Rivers. Tehri on becoming the capital of Garhwal Kingdom become the centre for education, culture and trade. Maharaja Pratap Singh set up a school in 1873. After his death in 1887 it was named Pratap Singh High School which later on upgraded to Intermediate College. On the occasion of Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, the Maharaja of Garhwal kingdom Maharaja Kirti Shah got a clock tower built in 1897. The clocks for the tower were brought from Britain. 191 Years old Capital city of Old Tehri(Established in 1815) breathed its last because of its complete submergence in the Bhagirathi River after the Construction of Tehri Dam

Tehri Dam:-

                  Located at the confluence of the rivers Bhagirathi(the main tributary of the river Ganga) and Bhilangana, Tehri Dam is one of the world's largest hydroelectric power projects. This multi purpose project dam has a height of 261 meters(855 feet) and is the fifth tallest in the world. The operative benefits of the dam include a power generation capacity of 2400 MW, irrigation stabilization to an area of 6,000 sq.km, an additional area of 2700 sq.km of irrigation stabilization and a supply of 270 millions gallons (1.23 million cubic meters) of drinking water per day to industrialized cities in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The main reservoir comprises an area of 42 sq km. It has submerged the old Tehri town and 112 of its neighbouring villages that has also resulted in the displacement of more of more than 100,000 people.
      The Proposal for the Dam was approved in 1972 and construction work start in 1978. The Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) was constituted in 1989 to supervise the construction. The Cofferdam was completed in 1996, and the last tunnel was close in 2005. On July 2006 the project started commercial operations when the first unit of 250 MW was synchronized with the northen grid and was formally commissioned by Sushil Kumar Shinde, the Union Power Minister. The Project would eventually have a capacity of 2400 MW. This includes the 1000 MW Tehri Dam and Hydro Power Plant, the 1000 MW Tehri Pump Storage Plant and the 400 MW Koteswar Dam and Power Plant.
   The Project took nearly 35 years to complete at a cost of Rs. 8000 Crore rupees. But this project has also been mired in controversy since its inception.