Dakpathar Barrage

Half a kilometre of concrete and twenty-five floodgates across the Yamuna, with a foundation stone Nehru laid in 1949. It holds nothing back for long: the water is steered into the East Yamuna Canal, which runs ten kilometres to the Dhakrani power house, four more to Dhalipur, and finally into the reservoir behind the Asan Barrage. Both power stations have been turning since 1965. There is nothing here to tour and no reason to make the journey on its own, but it is a wide, quiet sheet of river and worth ten minutes if the road takes you past.