Tandula Dam, Drug, Chhattisgarh India

The Dam is situated on the banks of the River Tandula and is located at a distance of 60 Kms from Bhilai. It is a very famous picnic spot which attracts hundreds of tourists from all over the country. There are many rest houses located in the region of the dam.

Britishers had envisaged some 100 years ago that a dam that they were building would flow a new phase of development in Chhattisgarh. And literally, it came true.

Tandula Reservoir build near the sleepy town of Balod completes a Century. More important, it leaves behind a glorious past of its journey that really helped Chhattisgarh to create a niche in the national map and kick off a new phase of development in the region.

The reservoir was built by the erstwhile British government between 1906 and 1912. This is probably the first dam constructed in the region that is also known as the rice-bowl of the country for abundance paddy production. The dam ensured irrigation in some 54,000 hectare area when it was build.The length of the main canal coming out from the Tandula dam is about 110 km while the total length of its distribution and branch canals measures to 880 km.

The canal construction work under the supervision of the British engineer was completed in two phases. In the first phase, 72 km canal was built.

The Tandula reservoir, which is the third biggest dam in Chhattisgarh, had helped in speeding up the economic growth in the region. The Britishers had never thought of that the dam that they were building would be the landmark for setting up the then Asian’s biggest steel plant in the region.

“Tandula (reservoir) was one of the reasons why Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) was set up in the region,” a senior official of the company told Business Standard. The construction work for the BSP, considered the flagship entity of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), started in Bhilai in 1955.