Question

The multi-purpose river valley project jointly undertaken by Bihar and West Bengal is ___
a)Damodar river valley project
b)Hirakud project
c)Kosi project
d)Bhakra Nangal project

Answer 1

Hint: Multipurpose projects are river valley projects which serve the purpose of irrigation, flood control as well as electricity generation. These projects also serve the purpose of inland navigation, fish breeding and recreation.

Complete answer: Rivers like Ganga, Gandhak, Kosi and Son flow through Bihar. On the other hand, rivers like Gnga, Damodar, Mayurakshi and Kangsabati flow through West Bengal. Let us look at the options given to us
Option A- Damodar river valley project is built over river Damodar for the purpose of flood control, energy generation and irrigation. Storage dams have been built over tributaries of Damodar like Panchet, Konar, Tilaiya and Maithon. Thermal power stations of Bokaro, Durgapur and Chanderpura use water from Damodar river. A barrage is built in Durgapur and the water from here is channelised through a canal that irrigates an area of 5.15lakh hectares of land. This project is jointly undertaken by Bihar and West Bengal
Option B-Hirakud project is built over Mahanadi river in Odisha. It involves Hirakud, Naraj and Tikarpada dams along with Mahanadi delta irrigation scheme.
Option C-Kosi project over river Kosi includes the Kosi project near Hanumangarh. It is a joint venture of Nepal and Bihar.
Option D- Bhakra Nangal project includes Bhakra dam over river Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh and Nangal dam downstream of Bhakra dam in Punjab. The water of Bhakra dam irrigates parts of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana. Lake formed by the reservoir-Gobind Sagar Dam- is used for commercial fishing. Power generated from the project is distributed to Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan.

Therefore the correct answer is option (A).

Note: One should not confuse the Damodar river valley project with other projects in these states. For example, Gandak river project is jointly undertaken by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Nepal. Mayurakshi and Kangsabati river valley projects are important multipurpose projects in West Bengal.