The Bhushi Dam is a

masonry dam Masonry dams are dams made out of masonrymainly stone and brick, sometimes joined with mortar. They are either the gravity or the arch-gravity type. The largest masonry dam in the World is Nagarjunasagar Dam , Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, in Indi ...

on the

Indrayani River The Indrayani River originates in Kurvande village near Lonavla, a hill station in the Sahyadri mountains of Maharashtra, India. Fed by rain, it flows east from there to meet the Bhima river, through the Hindu pilgrimage centers of Dehu and Aland ...

Lonavala Lonavala (ISO 15919, ISO: Loṇāvaḷā) is a hill station town and a Municipal Council in the Pune district, Maharashtra, India. It is about west of Pune and to the east of Mumbai. It is known for its production of the hard candy ''chikki'' a ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, India. In 2014, the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

announced plans to develop Bhushi Dam as a tourist resort with participation from the private sector.

History

The dam was built in the late 1860s for the

Great Indian Peninsular Railway The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...

as a source of water for their steam engines. it is owned by the Central Railway zone of the

, the successor to the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. Water was carried from the reservoir to

Khandala Khandala is a hill station in the Western Ghats in the state of Maharashtra, India, about from Lonavala, 12 kilometres from Khopoli and from Karjat. Khandala is located at the top end of the Bhor Ghat, a major ''ghat'' (meaning valley in ...

and the reversing station of the railways by cast-iron pipes. The Railway company later agreed to supply some water to the town of Lonavala as well, because the dam had been built using Municipal funding. In 2011, the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

proposed to take over the Bhushi dam and Bhugaon lake for its training activities at the '' Indian Naval Station Shivaji'' which is located in the vicinity. The Lonavala Police stated that such a move would restrict the access of the public to the dam. In 2012, the

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited (Marathi: महाराष्ट्र राज्यमार्ग विकास महामंडळ मर्यादित), commonly abbreviated as MSRDC, is an Indian publ ...

(MSRDC) proposed to construct a long tunnel along the

Mumbai Pune Expressway Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

which would pass right below the Bhushi dam.

Accidents

The Bhushi Dam frequently sees cases of drowning. A 2012 report stated that as many as 25 people had died in a five-year period. In order to bring down these accidents, the Lonavala Police and the railways set up a control room near the dam, as well as imposed a ban on consumption of liquor in areas surrounding the dam. Subsequently, vehicles were banned from entering the area after 3 pm and visitors were prohibited from entering the dam and the surrounding areas after 5 pm. Tourists are usually allowed to visit the dam from 9 am up to 3 pm. Except local buses, all other buses are banned from entering the area.

References

{{Hydrography of Maharashtra Dams in Pune district Lonavala-Khandala Masonry dams Gravity dams Dams completed in 1876 1876 establishments in India Buildings and structures in Lonavala-Khandala