Chenab Chandrabhaga | |
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![]() The Chenab river at Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir, India | |
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Location | |
Country | India, Pakistan |
Flows through (areas in India) | Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir |
Flows through (areas in Pakistan) | Punjab |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Baralacha La pass |
• location | Lahul and Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh, India |
• coordinates | 32°38′09″N77°28′51″E / 32.63583°N 77.48083°E |
Mouth | Confluence with Sutlej to form the Panjnad River |
• location | Bahawalpur district, Punjab, Pakistan |
• coordinates | 29°20′57″N71°1′41″E / 29.34917°N 71.02806°E |
Length | 1,974 km (1,227 mi) |
Discharge | |
• location | Marala Headworks [1] |
• average | 977.3 m3/s (34,510 cu ft/s) |
• minimum | 310.53 m3/s (10,966 cu ft/s) |
• maximum | 31,148.53 m3/s (1,100,000 cu ft/s) |
Basin features | |
River system | Indus River |
Tributaries | |
• left | Tawi River, Ravi River |
• right | Marusudar River, [2] Jhelum River, Neeru river and Kalnai River |
The Chenab River [lower-alpha 1] is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul region of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The Chenab flows through the Jammu region of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, into the plains of the Pakistani province of Punjab, before ultimately flowing into the Indus River. The Battle of Chenab was fought between Sikhs and Afghans on the bank of the river. [3]
The waters of the Chenab were allocated to Pakistan under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty. India is allowed non-consumptive uses such as power generation. The Chenab River is extensively used in Pakistan for irrigation. Its waters are also transferred to the channel of the Ravi River via numerous link canals. [4] [5] [6]
The Chenab river was called Asikni (Sanskrit : असिक्नी) in the Rigveda (VIII.20.25, X.75.5). The name meant that it was seen to have dark-coloured waters. [7] [8] The term Krishana is also found in the Atharvaveda. [9] A later form of Askikni was Iskamati (Sanskrit : इस्कामति)[ citation needed ] and the Greek form was Ancient Greek : Ἀκεσίνης - Akesínes; Latinized to Acesines. [7] [8] [10]
In the Mahabharata, the common name of the river was Chandrabhaga (Sanskrit : चन्द्रभागा) because the river is formed from the confluence of the Chandra and the Bhaga rivers. [9] [11] This name was also known to the Ancient Greeks, who Hellenised it in various forms such as Sandrophagos, Sandabaga and Cantabra. [8]
The simplification of Chandrabhaga to 'Chenab', with evident Persianate influence, probably occurred in early medieval times and is witnessed in Alberuni. [12]
The river is formed by the confluence of two rivers, Chandra and Bhaga, at Tandi, 8 km (5.0 mi) southwest of Keylong, in the Lahaul and Spiti district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. [4]
The Bhaga river originates from Surya taal lake, which is situated a few kilometers west of the Bara-lacha la pass in Himachal Pradesh. The Chandra river originates from glaciers east of the same pass (near Chandra Taal). [4] [13] This pass also acts as a water-divide between these two rivers. [14] The Chandra river transverses 115 km (71 mi) while the Bhaga river transverses 60 km (37 mi) through narrow gorges before their confluence at Tandi. [15]
The Chandra-Bhaga then flows through the Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh before entering the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir, where it flows through the Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Reasi and Jammu districts. It enters Pakistan and flows through the Punjab province before emptying into the Sutlej, forming the Panjnad river.
The river was known to Indians in the Vedic period. [16] [17] [18] In 325 BCE, Alexander the Great allegedly founded the town of Alexandria on the Indus (present-day Uch Sharif or Mithankot or Chacharan in Pakistan) at the confluence of the Indus and the combined streams of Punjab rivers (currently known as the Panjnad River). [19] Arrian, in the Anabasis of Alexander, quotes the eyewitness Ptolemy Lagides as writing that the river was 2 miles wide where Alexander crossed it. [20]
The river has rich power generation potential in India. There are many dams built, under construction or proposed to be built on the Chenab for the purpose of hydroelectric power generation in the country, including:
All of these are "run-of-the-river" projects as per the Indus Water Treaty of 1960. The Treaty allocates the waters of Chenab to Pakistan. India can use its water for domestic and agricultural uses or for "non-consumptive" uses such as hydropower. India is entitled to store up to 1.2 million acre-feet (1.5 billion cubic metres ) of water in its projects. The three projects completed as of 2011 [update] , Salal, Baglihar and Dul Hasti, have a combined storage capacity of 260 thousand acre-feet (320 million cubic metres). [21]
Pakistan has four headworks on the Chenab:
The Beas River is a river in north India. It is one of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. The river rises in the Himalayas in central region of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and flows for some 470 kilometres (290 mi) to the Sutlej River in the state of Punjab. Its total length is 470 kilometres (290 mi) and its drainage basin is 20,303 square kilometres (7,839 sq mi) large.
The Ravi River is a transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of five rivers associated with the Punjab region.
The Jhelum River is a river in the northern Indian subcontinent. It originates at Verinag and flows through the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, into Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir, then the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is the westernmost of the five major rivers of the Punjab region, and flows through the Kashmir Valley. It is a tributary of the Chenab River and has a total length of about 725 kilometres (450 mi).
The Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh consists of the two formerly separate districts of Lahaul and Spiti. The present administrative center is Kyelang in Lahaul. Before the two districts were merged, Kardang was the capital of Lahaul, and Dhankar the capital of Spiti. The district was formed in 1960 and is the fourth least populous district in India. It is the least densely populated district of India, according to the Census of India 2011.
The Sutlej River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as Satadru. It is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River. The Bhakra Dam is built around the river Sutlej to provide irrigation and other facilities to the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana.
The Pir Panjal Range is a range of mountains in the Lower Himalayan region located in the Western Himalayas of northern Indian subcontinent. It runs southeast to northwest between the Beas and Neelam/Kishanganga rivers, in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, with its northwestern end extending into territory administered by Pakistan. The Himalayas show a gradual elevation towards the Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal ranges. Pir Panjal is the largest and westernmost range of the Lesser Himalayas. Near the bank of the Sutlej River, it dissociates itself from the main Himalayan range and forms a divide between the Beas and Ravi rivers on one side and the Chenab on the other. Further west, the Pir Panjal range forms the southwestern boundary of the Kashmir Valley, separating it from the hills of Jammu region, forming a divide between the Jhelum and Chenab rivers.
The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 by then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pakistani president Field Marshal Ayub Khan.
The state of Himachal Pradesh is spread over an area 55,673 km2 (21,495 sq mi) and is bordered by Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on the north, Punjab on the southwest, Haryana on the south, Uttarakhand on the southeast, a small border with Uttar Pradesh in the south, and Tibet on the east. Entire Himachal Pradesh lies in the mountainous Himalaya region, rich in natural resources
Bara-lacha la also known as Bara-lacha Pass, or Bārā Lācha La, is a high mountain pass in the Zanskar range of Northern-India, connecting Lahaul district in Himachal Pradesh to Leh district in Ladakh. Rail-cum-road tunnels are being constructed under the Bara-lacha la, at 4,750 metres (15,580 ft) high Lungalacha La and 5,184 metres (17,008 ft) high Taglang La to cater to the traffic on the existing NH3 Leh–Manali Highway and the under-construction Bhanupli–Leh line.
Salal Dam, also known as Salal Hydroelectric Power Station, is a run-of-the-river hydropower project on the Chenab River in the Reasi district of the Jammu and Kashmir. It was the first hydropower project built by India in Jammu and Kashmir under the Indus Water Treaty regime. After having reached a bilateral agreement with Pakistan in 1978, with significant concessions made to Pakistan in the design of the dam, reducing its height, eliminating operating pool, and plugging the under-sluices meant for sediment management, India completed the project in 1987. The concessions made in the interest of bilateralism damaged the long-term sustainability of the dam, which silted up in five years. It currently runs at 57% capacity factor. Its long-term future is uncertain.
Himachal Pradesh provides water to both the Indus and Ganges basins. The drainage systems of the region are the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas, the Satluj and the Yamuna. These rivers are perennial and are fed by snow and rainfall. They are protected by an extensive cover of natural vegetation.
Marala Headworks is a headworks situated on the Chenab River near the city of Sialkot in Gujrat district in Punjab, Pakistan. A weir was first built during 1906–1912 in the British India to feed the Upper Chenab Canal, as part of the 'Triple Canals Project'. A new Marala Barrage was constructed in 1968 to feed the Marala–Ravi Link Canal in addition to the original Upper Chenab Canal.
Suraj Tal, also called Tso Kamtsi or Surya Tal, is an 800 m (2,600 ft) long lake that lies just below the 4,890 m (16,040 ft) high Bara-lacha-la pass in Lahaul and Spiti district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is the third-highest lake in India and the 21st-highest in the world. Suraj Tal Lake is just below the source of the Bhaga River that joins the Chandra River downstream at Tandi to form the Chandrabhaga River in Himachal Pradesh. The Chandrabhaga River is known as the Chenab as it enters the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir. The other major tributary of the Chandrabhaga, the Chandra, originates and flows south-east of the Bara-lacha La.
Dul Hasti is a 390 MW hydroelectric power plant in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, India built by NHPC. The power plant is a run-of-the-river type on the Chenab River, in a rugged, mountainous section of the Himalayas, and several hundred kilometers from larger cities in the Jammu Division. It consists of a 70 m (230 ft) tall gravity dam which diverts water through a 9.5 km (5.9 mi) long headrace tunnel to the power station which discharges back into the Chenab. The project provides peaking power to the Northern Grid with beneficiary states being Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh. It was constructed between 1985 and 2007.
Chamba State was one of the oldest princely states in present-day Republic of India, having been founded during the late 6th century. It was part of the States of the Punjab Hills of the Punjab Province in India from 1859 to 1947. Its last ruler signed the instrument of accession to the Indian Union of 15 April 1948.
The Ratle Hydroelectric Plant is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station, with permitted pondage under the Indus Water Treaty, currently under construction on the Chenab River, downstream of the village near Drabshalla in Kishtwar district of the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The project includes a 133 m (436 ft) tall gravity dam and two power stations adjacent to one another. Water from the dam will be diverted through four intake tunnels about 400 m (0.25 mi) southwest to the power stations. The main power station will contain four 205 MW Francis turbines and the auxiliary power station will contain one 30 MW Francis turbine. The installed capacity of both power stations will be 850 MW. On 25 June 2013, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the dam. Pakistan has frequently alleged that it violates the Indus Waters Treaty.
The Pakal Dul Dam is an under construction concrete-face rock-fill dam on the Marusudar river, a tributary of the Chenab River, in Kishtwar district of the Indian Jammu and Kashmir. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation. It will divert water to the south through a 10 km (6.2 mi) long headrace tunnel and into power station on the reservoir of the Dul Hasti Dam, on the Chenab. In February 2014, the project was awarded to a consortium of domestic and foreign countries. It includes AFCONS, JP Prakash Associate Bharat Heavy Electricals. Pakistan, which relies on the Chenab downstream, views the dam as a violation of the Indus Water Treaty, whereas India states it is as per treaty provisions. Indian Commentator Harshil Mehta wrote that the project holds strategic interest for India, apart from utilising just Hydropower, along with Kiru and Ratle, and Ujh multipurpose project.
The Western Himalayas refers to the western half of the Himalayas, in northwestern India and northern Pakistan. Four of the five tributaries of the Indus River in Punjab rise in the Western Himalayas; while the fifth, the Sutlej cuts through the range after rising in Tibet.
The Punjab Irrigation Department is a provincial government department responsible for irrigation in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It irrigates 21 million acres (8,500,000 ha) of the agricultural land in the province.
The Kalnai River is a tributary of the Chenab River in the Bunjwah region bordering Kishtwar and Doda districts in Jammu and Kashmir. An under construction 48MW Lower Kalnai hydroelectric project is located at Donadi on this river.
chenab ancient name.