Damodar Valley Corporation is reportedly planning a multi-purpose dam project at Balpahari in Jharkhand. Although the proposal was mooted a few years ago, the project was delayed since the Jharkhand government withheld approval, demanding an increase in catchment (command) area. The Jharkhand government has approved DVC's revised proposal, it is learnt.

DVC has also carried out a pre-feasibility study on the project and has now approached Central Water Commission for preparing a detailed feasibility report.

Planned as part of its network of dams and barrages in the Damodar valley region, the Balpahari project was conceived with the objective of reducing siltation problems at the dam at Maithon, increasing the reach of canal irrigation and adding to hydro-electric generation capacity by 20 MW from the existing 144 MW.

The project will be located on the Barakar river, which forms the boundary between West Bengal and Jharkhand, downstream from the Tilaiya Barrage.

DVC currently owns a network of 4 major dams at Maithon, Panchet, Tilya and Konar and a barrage at Durgapur with the capacity to moderate peak floods of 6.51 lakh cusec to 2.5 lakh cusec. The corporation also has more than 2,494 kms of irrigation canal network. All of DVC's major projects were commissioned between 1953 and 1959.

The multipurpose projects are located on the Damodar and its tributaries, namely Barakar and Konar. Of the five projects, Maithon and Panchet are the biggest both in terms of reservoir capacity and hydro-electric generation capacity (together producing more than 140 MW).