K S Jamwal
Construction and commissioning of Afghan -India friendship dam successfully, has made India proud and this will always feature as a landmark symbol of the historical ties between our two countries and the people who have helped shape this iconic infrastructure project. I got opportunity to work for this historical project as geological advisor on deputation from my parent department, Geological Survey Of India and after my superannuation, as Top Level Expert (TLE) for Water And Power Consultancy, Services Ltd (WAPCOS), A Govt. of India Undertaking.
WAPCOS is a ” Mini Ratna” and a premier international consultancy organization which was incorporated as a company in 1969 and now it has been providing service to various domestic and overseas clients for more than 40 countries including Afghanistan . It is now recognized amongst the top ranking consultancy organizations of the world. It is a techno commercial organization under the aegis of Ministry of Water Resources and utilizes, the talent of experts from various organizations of Govt. of India and State Government. I am very fortunate that WAPCOS designated me Top Level Expert (TLE) in the field of geology for Afghan India friendship Dam and provided me opportunity to know minutely the people and culture of Afghanistan. The dam has been constructed on river Hari-Rud ( A Hindu name ) flowing from east to west towards Iran. Hindu nomenclature for villages is also common; if Salma village (Muslim name) is located just upstream of this dam, there is Sanjay Tak village (Hindu name ) in the downstream of dam. The river Hari-Rud flows through village of Mohammad Gori, (Muslim king) in the upstream of the dam and is now under submergence.The pre- construction activity for this project was started in 1976 but due to war / hostilities in Afghanistan, the construction work was abandoned in 1983. Thus, the excavation work for dam had already been taken up to achieve the designed grade of foundation. The work was re-started after a gap of about 23 years in 2006 and it took 10 years to complete the project under very tense conditions and unpredictable Taliban insurgencies frequently. More than 200 Indian workers were engaged to construct this project and fortunately none of us became victim of Taliban form 2006 to 2016. Indian campus was very tightly protected with surrounding high wall, mounted with barbed wire and security forces, patrolling round the clock. Exhibit I
Indian camp at Afghan- India friendship dam
It is about 162 km east of Herat city (An ancient seat of learning), 2 Km downstream of Salma village and 9 Km upstream of Chist-e-Sharif, a pilgrim town. Herat is the last Airport and after that the project is approachable by 162 Km long unmetalled and very rough road with large pits. Thus, it takes about 8 hours to reach project site from Herat. Moreover, road has continuous mud houses on both sides, dominated by Taliban. The journey became very risky along with security vehicles, being soft target for Taliban to blow them up by the embedded grenades in the road, with remote control in their hands. Sometime we were trapped in cross firing between our security people and Taliban, and later on, evacuated by the helicopters. In view of this, Ministry Of External Affairs, Govt. Of India, arranged helicopter services for Indian workers from Herat to project site at Chist-e-sharif. But Transportation of equipments, parts of machinery, construction material like cement and steel from Iran to site via Herat became very difficult and risky. Many a time the material from trucks was Looted by the Taliban enroute. In spite of such difficulties and hurdles, the project was successfully completed and commissioned in 2016. This is the free gift to Govt. Of Afghanistan by Govt. Of India and our Prime Minister Narendra modi personally handed over this project to President of Afghanistan in June 2016.
The project site forms part of the inter – mountain kettle depression of tectonic origin. The rocks have been classified as belonging to Protozoic age (500-2000 million years) and are represented by metamorphic para and ortho gneisses. The river flows through a reasonably narrow gorge at the dam site. The dam is earth and rock fill of about 107 m high from river bed level at El 1547m. It is a multipurpose dam, mainly to irrigate about 75,000 hecters of land and also to produce 42 mw power.
Working in Afghanistan, especially for a hydroelectric project in the interior areas of Herat province is adventurous, full of challenges, threates and subversive activities by Taliban. In the initial years of 2006 and 2007, we all were scared of frequent encounters of Taliban with the security forces, but gradually, it became a routine and with the cooperation of locals and constant encouragement by Govt. of Afghanistan and Ministry Of External Affairs of Govt. of India, we became impervious to danger and worked day and night fearlessly on all front of the project site. People are simple, meek, gentle, hardworking and tough. They are softer than flowers where kindness is concerned but stronger than Thunder when principles are at stake. During my field work for 25 Km long reservoir, locals and security forces accompanied me on bikes in the interior areas, Exhibit-29
Reservoir area of dam with security
Many a time we intercepted some local hunters with guns on our way, masked on their faces which made us scared but later on came to know, that they act so to deceive the animals for hunting.
Local hunter with mask in Interior area of dam
The traditional Afghani-roti is very big in size and one such roti is enough for full lunch in the field
Lunch in field with Afghani roti
Finally, the time came to depart from our Afghani engineers, locals and friends after the completion of this project. We had a tearful farewell and wished to work again together for future projects in Afghanistan, the second home for all of us where we spent about 10 years, celebrated together festivals like Holi, Deepawali, Afghani day 21 March, and Idd. We returned with vivid & colorful memories of loving people of Afghanistan. It seems as if it was a dream till yesterday to work in Afghanistan and today it has become a milestone.
Good bye to Afghan- India friendship dam
(The author is former Dy Director General Geological Survey of India)
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