Mangla overlooking the Jhelum river which divides the Mirpur and Jhelum districts. A part of Mangla fort was razed during the construction of the Mangla Dam, however a large part remains and serves as a public recreation place. After the completion Mangla Dam, most of the Baral & Sultanpure Thill Area was taken over by Pak Army and converted into a Cantonment whereas a small section within the compound walls of Pakistan Army's Officers residences, known as Baral Colony, was allotted to WAPDA named as WAPDA OFFICERS COLONY. Mangla The name Mangla (منگلا)is derived from the name of a small village
Mangla Dam releases at the artificial head of the reservoir. The project, though not initially designed as one, also works as a flood control structure by retaining water during the flood-prone season of Monsoon. On December 5, 1971, the dam was damaged due to a bombing raid conducted by the Indian Air Force during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. This was against the international convention that large water reservoirs would not be targeted in war. As a consequence, the hydro project was temporarily out of service. From the data available in 2009, the project had generated 183.551 billion units of low cost