[1] The chief ministers of Bihar and West Bengal, Dr. Srikrishna Sinha and Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, persuaded central government about the benefits of this mega project.

The lower valley on the other hand consists of five districts partly (Burdwan, Hooghly, Bankura, Howrah and Purulia) in the state of West Bengal.

DVC was set up with the intent of promoting and operating the schemes which may cause social and economic uplift in the valley region.

DVC has been generating, transmitting & distributing electrical energy since 1953 and has succeeded not only in meeting the expectation of consumers but has also elevated its height in its performance.

Earlier DVC had installed few Gas Turbines for generation of electricity, a unique technology in the entire region introduced for the very first time in Maithon.

The dam's mission comprises: In 1942, during the course of World War II, a flood occurred in the Damodar valley region that cut Calcutta off from the rest of the country for a period of 10 weeks.

Soon the government sprang into action & called Mr. W.L.Voord, a civil engineer of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Maithon Hydel Power Station (MHPS) is located on the river Barakar about 12.9 km above its confluence with the Damodar near the border of Dhanbad & Burdwan districts of the states of Jharkhand & West Bengal respectively.

The Indian Meteorological Department, Kolkata, transmits the rainfall forecast for the next 24 hours for the entire Damodar Valley region to Maithon.

Maithon Dam has completed 60 years in service, and this naturally has an effect on the structures, in spite of regular maintenance by DVC.

Before releasing the water from dam's spillway gates, a necessary warning is communicated to district authorities, affected downstream industries, municipalities and others including senior administrative officials of Burdwan, Bankura, Purulia; IOW Dept.

[clarification needed] Whenever there is a discharge from Maithon and Panchet dams exceeding 1,132 cu ft/s (32.1 m3/s), special arrangements are broadcast through Doordarshan and AIR regional news bulletins.

Doordarshan, Kolkata also telecasts daily weather forecasts with probable rainfall in the Damodar Valley.

Maithon Dam has completed its 60 successful years in the service to the nation but, the maintenance of the reservoir is a matter of concern.

The rain water takes a lot of soil with it and the same settles down in the reservoir causing decrease in the depth.