History
The proposal to construct a dam to use the excess waters of the Krishna river was sketched out by the British Engineers in 1903 on the supervision of Hyderabad Nizams. Since then, various competing sites in Siddeswaram, Hyderabad and Pulichintala were identified as the most suitable locations for the reservoirs. The perseverance of the Raja of Muktyala paved way for the site identification, design and construction of the dam. Nagarjunasagar was the earliest in the series of "modern temples" taken up to usher in the Green Revolution in India.
Project construction was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, on 10 December 1955, and proceeded for the next twelve years. The reservoir water was released into the left and right bank canals by Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi in 1967. Construction of the hydropower plant followed, with generation increasing between 1978 and 1985, as additional units came into service.
The construction of the dam submerged an ancient Buddhist settlement, Nagarjunakonda, which was the capital of the Ikshvaku dynasty in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the successors of the Satavahanas in the Eastern Deccan. Excavations here had yielded 30 Buddhist monasteries, as well as art works and inscriptions of great historical importance. In advance of the reservoir's flooding, monuments were dug up and relocated. Some were moved to Nagarjuna's Hill, now an island in the middle of the reservoir. Others were moved to the mainland.
Read more about this topic: Nagarjuna Sagar Dam
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