Masonry dam at N’sagar to control floods

Nagarjunasagar: When monsoon breaks next month, the flood waters of Krishna river will be held back by a gigantic and solid masonry dam which will be the largest and tallest structure of its kind in the world.

The dam which is almost nearing completion will store in the ensuing monsoon about 6.55 million acre feet of water, half of which will be available for irrigation.

A unique feature of the dam is that it has stone right from the foundation, having reached a maximum depth of 46 feet from the bed-level.

The dam has risen to an average height of about 380 feet from the foundations. Work is now going on to raise it to the crest-level before the floods come in the river.

When completed, the dam will store a total of 9.7 million acre feet of water forming a 110 sq. mile reservoir which will be one of the largest in the world.

Initial expenditure: The construction of the dam which began 12 years ago, involved an initial expenditure of `140 crores.

The Nagarjunasagar project is one of the largest recipients of aid from the US agency for international development, having received so far about `60 crores under the PL-480 scheme. It has also received over `100 crores in the form of loans from the Union government.

The right canal of the project which will irrigate 11.74 lakh acres of land is now under construction. The right canal will provide irrigation facility to Guntur, Kurnool and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The first phase of the left 111-mile long canal which is expected to irrigate 8.8 lakh acres, is also under construction. It will irrigate Nalgonda, Khammam and Krishna districts.

Project authorities said that there was a slackening in the tempo of canal construction work because of the paucity of funds.