BARGI DAM

VT LONDHE JULY 1978–JUNE 1981

General

This 63 m high dam project is located across Narmada river in MP near Jabalpur. Thereafter we were asked to get executed the masonry dam on the left flank only but were again loaded with the work of the full masonry dam. This included a slotted roller bucket for the energy dissipation arrangements on the D/S of the dam. The actual construction of such slotted roller bucket was a challenging task but we could complete it with confidence.

Achievements

I with my staff was initially looking after the quality control of the full project which included the earth dam as well as the masonry dam.It is generally advised that the consolidation grouting operations be taken up only after the masonry for the dam is raised at least 3 m over the foundations. But strange enough to see that the foundation of block 31 after its exposure was found to be a very sound hard rock and as such we thought of taking up the work of grouting even before the foundation is covered with masonry and with the connivance of our higher officers we went on grouting before taking up of masonry. There was another challenging work of location and construction of 7 m diameter penstocks in blocks no 31 &32 of the dam along with the construction one elevator shaft in block no 33. This we could get executed in a record time. Thus we got executed around 2.5 lakh cum of masonry and concrete in one working season only. This was a record at that time.

Special Works

The leaving of the pier block outs in the masonry was a challenging task particularly while executing masonry. The masonry work had to be stopped for a while at different locations and also at different levels. The execution work of the glacis concrete was an uphill task particularly with vibration, form work and the final shape of the glacis. Further we were entrusted with the work of construction of the Earth dam on both the flanks of the dam. This work we could complete with the assistance of very big size scrappers and rollers. The total quantity of earth work we got executed was 15 lakh cum in one working season only which was a record at that time.