Sweta Priyam

Post Environmental and Socio-economic Impact of Hydroelectric Dam: a Qualitative Analysis of Various Impacts of Massanjore Hydroelectric Dam, Dumka, Jharkhand Sweta Priyam

Worldwide, dams played a key role in development of a country?s agriculture and economy. They supply water to meet industrial and domestic needs, control floods and generate power. The Massanjore Dam was build in 1956 on river Mayurakshi, located in Dumka, Jharkhand (then Bihar) servers the purpose of controlling flood, irrigation of fields in Jharkhand and supply of 4MW electricity to the state of West Bengal. As a result of construction of the dam, about 100 villages with a total population about 15,000 persons, mostly tribal, were affected in the reservoir area. The catchment area is 1,860 sq. km and maximum submerged area is 9,430 ha. The area has been experiencing soil erosion due to inadequate forest cover, denudation of forest, uncontrolled grazing. Some program of social and farm forestry were launched but have not made any significant headway. There is lot of scope of pisciculture and tourism in the reservoir area but unfortunately no initiative has been taken in this direction. The study indicates that the dam improved the socio-economic status of the area but environmentally it needs restoration and upgradation for maximum benefits in the area.