Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is a multipurpose dam built with stone & brick across the Krishna river at Nagarjuna Sagar. It covers the borders between Nalgonda district of Telangana and Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh. It provides irrigation water to Krishna, Guntur, Palnadu, Prakasam, parts of West Godavari of Andhra and Nalgonda, Suryapet, Khammam & Bhadradri districts of Telangana.
This dam is a source of electricity generation and is one of the earliest multi-purpose irrigation and hydro electric projects in India. It was constructed between 1955 and 1967 with a storage capacity of 11.472 billion cubic metres. This dam is 124 m tall and 1.6 KM long with 26 gates. These gates are 13 metres wide and 14 metres tall.
History:
The project's construction was officially opened by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 10th December 1955. But it was prolonged to twelve years. Raja Vasireddy Ramagopala Krishna Maheswara Prasad who was popularly known as Muktyala Raja played a key role in the construction of this dam. He maintained consistent political engagement and donated 110 million GBP(Great Britain Pound) in 1952 along with 55,000 acres of land.
The site of the dam was selected in 2022 to be developed as part of the UDAN(Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme. The reservoir water was released into the left & right irrigation canals by Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi on 4th August 1967. Between 1978 and 1985, the hydroelectric power plant was constructed followed by increase of power generation by adding additional units.
How To Reach:
Pylon bus stand is located at a distance of 2.2 KM from this dam. You can reach the dam by taking a local taxi or auto from the bus stand.
