Bihar Quiz: Irrigation and Power Projects of Bihar

Work on the Sone began in the colonial period with an anicut across the river at Dehri in Rohtas district, and the system has been extended ever since, the Indrapuri barrage replacing the old anicut in 1968.

Dehri on Sone lies in Rohtas district, and the Indrapuri barrage was built there in place of the old anicut, being completed in 1968.

The Gandak barrage was built at Valmiki Nagar in West Champaran district, on the border with Nepal, under an agreement between the two countries.

The Kosi barrage stands at Bhimnagar in Supaul district, where the river enters India from Nepal.

The Kosi comes down from Nepal carrying an enormous load of silt, drops it on the flat plain and so keeps raising its own bed.

The Tirhut canal is the main eastern canal of the Gandak project and takes its name from the old Tirhut region of north Bihar.

The Kahalgaon super thermal power station, run by NTPC, stands at Kahalgaon on the Ganga in Bhagalpur district of eastern Bihar, close to the coal routes from the Jharkhand and Bengal fields and to the river that supplies its cooling water.

Barauni in Begusarai district grew into an industrial centre around its oil refinery and fertiliser works, and the thermal station built there in the early decades after independence was the first large generating station of the state.

Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Limited was formed as a joint venture between NTPC and the Ministry of Railways to build a coal fired station at Nabinagar in Aurangabad district, with most of its power dedicated to the traction and other needs of the railways.

The Bansagar dam was built on the Son in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh, and because the river flows on into Uttar Pradesh and then joins the Ganga in Bihar, the three states signed an agreement to share its water and its cost.

Bihar lies close to the coalfields of Jharkhand and West Bengal, and its large stations at Kahalgaon, Barh, Nabinagar, Barauni and Muzaffarpur all burn coal.

The Gandak rises in the Nepal Himalaya, where it is called the Narayani or the Sapta Gandaki, enters India at Valmiki Nagar in West Champaran and flows south east across north Bihar to join the Ganga opposite Patna, near Sonpur and Hajipur.