Sambalpur

Hirakud Dam

Dams, Barrages and Embankments

The Hirakud Dam in Odisha stands in the Sambalpur district across the Mahanadi River. The dam was built in 1957 and is the largest earthen dam that exists. It is also a major multipurpose river valley project in India, which was built after India was liberated from British Rule in 1947. The Hirakud is 6 km from the NH and 8 km from the Hirakud railway station. It is 61 meters in height and 4801 meters in length, stretching between the hills of Lamdungri on the left and the Chandili Dunguri on the right.

The Hirakud is not only the longest earthen dam but also the biggest artificial lake in Asia, which has a storage capacity of 743 sq km and a shoreline of over 640 km. The importance of the Hirakud Dam is that it has facilitated the exploitation of the rich resources of Odisha, like iron, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromite, and limestone. At present, the Hirakud project has facilitated power supply to an aluminium plant at Hirakud paper mills at Brijrajnagar, cement works at Rajgangpur, an iron and steel plant at Rourkela, and several other industries in Cuttack, Puri, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Bolangir, and other districts. In recent years, pisciculture has been a growing activity in the areas around the Hirakud project.