It's a surreal expanse of green, these waters of the Tehri reservoir, stretching out in two directions like delicate fingers extending from a fleshy palm. The old little Kumaoni guard at the curb on the road at the viewpoint, diametrically above the pyramid top of the 261metre Tehri Dam, asks me to park away from the fenced-in edge. He does not look happy. Visitors are eager to know all about the Tehri Dam. The burden of having to explain 35 years in the making and the Rs 8,000 crore investment is more than the man had bargained for while applying for his khaki uniform. He stretches out his bony fingers, wrapped in wrinkled skin browned by the unrelenting sun, says something about the stones at the dam having come from Agra, and then quietly slinks away to take shelter under the tin shed that is called the bus stand. The magnificent waters, the majestic dam, the little man with bony fingers, and over eager tourists holding forth in their cantankerous best symbolise, in a sense, the Tehri story I brought back in the second week of June earlier this year.
The best way to get to the Tehri Dam site, located below a swank new town called Bhagirathipuram, is to first drive up the 60-odd km to Chamba from Rishikesh along a table-top road. From Chamba (about 5,400 odd feet, 1,676 m above sea level) you could either head in the direction of Yamunotri for 19 km to reach Dobata, turn right towards Tehri and then drive alongside Koti Colony, a humongous scrap-yard (which over time will, one hopes, be sold off) that once housed dam workers.
On the other side of the road you will see the reservoir, which gradually broadens as you get closer to Bhagirathipuram, another 10 odd km away. In mid-June when I visited, the height of the water was about 760 m (above sea level), rising a metre every day to the full height figure of 860 m (the proposed completed height of the dam), which by now has been achieved. The other (better) way is to drive up 13 km to New Tehri township (NTT), a brand new hill station (probably the first real hill town build post-independence) that stretches across a hill side dropping 500 metres from the top height of 2,000 metres. From NTT, the dam site is a steep 8 km drive downhill. The drive is picturesque, with intermittent glimpses of the reservoir. This is much better than the junkyard you drive past in Koti Colony!
Bhagirathipuram is nice to drive around in and the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) guest house has a wonderful garden. The place also offers the best view of the site. The 260 feet wall of stone with a clay core that rises up pyramid like towards you from a base two kilometres wide. and ends as a sharp edged top, looks quite awe inspiring from here. The steep slope of the dam (with a winding road for up down vehicular movement) along the release side, the top of the fort of old Tehri which was visible in June and the sweeping dark green over what was once the town of Tehri are captured in panorama from the guest house location.
