Nagarjuna Sagar Dam - World's Largest Masonry Dam

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam  is the world's largest masonry (brick or stonework) dam built across Krishna River in Nagarjuna Sagar, Nalgonda District of Andhra Pradesh, India, between 1955 and 1967. It creates the third largest man-made lake in the world. Apart from this, some remains of the Buddhist civilization dating back to the 3rd century A.D, are seen on an island called Nagarjunakonda located in a man-made lake on the other side of the river Krishna.

The dam contains the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir with a capacity of up to 11,472 million cubic metres. The dam is 490 ft (150 m). tall and 1.6 km long with 26 gates which are 42 ft (13 m) wide and 45 ft (14 m) tall. Nagarjuna Sagar was the earliest in the series of large infrastructure projects initiated for the Green Revolution in India; it also is one of the earliest multi-purpose irrigation and hydro-electric projects in India.

Foundation stone of the Dam was laid by the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India on 10-12-1955. The construction of the dam was completed in 1966 with a total expenditure of 1300 crore, and the dam water was released by Indira Gandhi in 1967. The dam is currently serving Nalgonda District, Prakasham District, Khammam District and Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh by providing water to the farmers for irrigation. Its hydro electric plant has a power generation capacity of 815.6 MW with 8 units.

Aside from the dam itself, there are other attractions nearby as well. The Nakarjunda Konda Island lies in the middle of the lake, containing the historical remnants of a Buddhist settlement that was relocated there during the dam’s construction. The Ethipothala waterfalls as well as the Srisailam Wildlife Reserve are also found within the vicinity of the dam.

                                                                                           I don’t claim the information to be my own. The information is compiled from different sources