Maharana Pratap Sagar " A beautiful man-made lake on Pong Dam, declared as Ramsar conservation site in tehsil Dehra- Gopipur district Kangra, Himachal Pradesh."

 The construction of Pong Dam on river Beas just up stream of Talwara in district Kangra, Himachal , which was started in 1960and completed in 1974 has resulted  a 42 Km long and 2 Km wide beautiful lake spreading from Pong dam to Dehra , declared as Ramsar conservation site on 19-08-2002 . The lake has an area about 307.29 square Kilometres. The lake is also called Pong dam lake or Pong Lake. The lake is now named as Maharana Pratap Sagar on the name of great warrior Maharana Pratap. The lake was declared a sanctuary in 1983. The pong dam lake is a loving place for migratory waterbirds. 

              View of Lake, Sanctuary for wildlife

Pong dam wetlands are major habitat for migratory waterbirds. On the onset of winters, thousands of migratory waterbirds from central and North Asia start arriving at Pong dam lake for their annual sojourn. Annually more then one lac migratory waterbirds about 115  species are roosting and feeding in pong dam lake. 

            Beautiful view of water birds near lake

                Red necked grebe in Pong lake

Red necked grebe is found only in Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Pong dam in India. Due to increase in numbers of birds , the pong dam lake has gained international importance. 

                 Beautiful view of water birds

In addition to the migratory waterbirds the sanctuary is supporting the fauna including mammals such as barking deer , sambhar, wild bear, fox, reptiles and nilgai etc. Some beautiful views are given below. 

                            View of  Nilgai

                                     Sambhar

                                  Barking deer

                                    Barking deer

                                     Sambhar

Above 440 metres from mean sea level in five Km radius of lake area about 20,000 hect. has been notified as buffer Zone. Unauthorized cultivation , cattle grazing and other unscientific activities around the lake is causing problems of silting in the lake. 

Some salient feature are :- 

1. About 95 villages have been displaced and about 20,000 hect. of land was acquired for this project by Bhakra Beas Management Board. 

2. It is an earthen dam known as Beas Dam. The dam volume is 35,500,000 cubic metres. 

3. The catchment area of lake is 12561 square km. 

4. Capacity of Lake is 8570,000,000 cubic metres. 

5. Spilway capacity :- 12375 cubic metres per second. 

6. Surface area :- 240 square km in Normal. and 450 square km during floods. 

7. Surface elevation :- 436 metres from mean sea level. 

8. Height of Dam :- 133 metres. 

9. Max. Depth of water :-  97.84 metres. 

Near Dehra and Gaj Kund moderate number of water birds can be observed, the scenic beauty of the entire area is very much charming for nature lovers, tourists and Environmental scientists. One must enjoy the nature here. 

          Beautiful view of Maharana Pratap Sagar

   Pong dam lake view near Dehra district Kangra 

           Youth enjoying Lake view near Dehra

              Enjoy the evening near lake at Dehra

                                Video Clip of Lake

                          Beautiful view of Lake

                                         By :- Er. R C Verma