Tungabhadra Dam

Tungabhadra Dam
Location of Tungabhadra Dam in Karnataka Show map of Karnataka Tungabhadra Dam (India) Show map of India
Official name	Tungabhadra Dam
Location	Hospet, Vijayanagara district, Karnataka, Munirabad, Koppal district, Karnataka, India
Construction began	1949
Opening date	1953
Construction cost	1,066,342 Dollars
Owner(s)	Karnataka State
Operator(s)	Tungabhadra Board
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Composite, Spillway length (701 m)
Impounds	Tungabhadra River
Height	49.50 m (162 ft) from the deepest foundation.
Length	2,449 m (8,035 ft)
Spillway capacity	650,000 cusecs
Reservoir
Creates	Tungabhadra Reservoir
Total capacity	3.73 cubic kms (132 tmcft)
Active capacity	3.31 cubic kms (116.86 tmcft)
Inactive capacity	2.3 tmcft (below 477.01 m msl)
Catchment area	28,180 km2 (10,880 sq mi)
Surface area	350 km2 (140 sq mi)
Power Station
Operator(s)	Karnataka Govt
Turbines	Near toe of the dam and canal drops
Installed capacity	127MW
Website www.tbboard.gov.in

The Tungabhadra Dam, also known as Pampa Sagar, is a water reservoir constructed across the Tungabhadra River in the city of Hosapete in Vijayanagara district, Karnataka, India. It is a multipurpose dam serving irrigation, electricity generation, flood control, etc. for the state. It is one of the only two non-cement dams in India, the other being the Mullaperiyar Dam in Kerala. The dam is built of surki mortar, a combination of mud and limestone, commonly used at the time of its construction.

The dam was a joint project undertaken in 1949 by the erstwhile Kingdom of Hyderabad and Madras Presidency when the construction began;^[1] later, after India's constitution into a republic in 1950, it became a joint project between the governments of Mysore State (now Karnataka) and Hyderabad State (now Telangana). The construction was completed in 1953. The Tungabhadra Dam has withstood the test of time for over 70 years and is expected to well cross many more decades.

The chief architects who envisioned India's largest stone masonry dam were Vepa Krishnamurthy and Mr Pallimalli Papaiah. Shri Pallimalli Papaiah was chief engineer from Hyderabad state and Shri Tirumal Iyengar was chief engineer from Madras state. They envisioned it as being built with a large contingent of material and manual labour, as best suited to Indian labour availability and employment at that time. The chief contractor for the dam was Venkat Reddy Mulamalla from Konour, a village in Mahabubnagar, Telangana. The Canal on the Hyderabad side (now Telangana), The Northern canal takes off from the combined irrigation and power sluices. The first 19 miles of the canal is in a rugged terrain cutting through three ranges of hills and is held up by three reservoirs at miles 8, 14 and 16 respectively. The canal negotiates the last range of hills by means of a tunnel, named as PAPAIAH TUNNEL, and enters open country.