The Tungabhadra Dam also known as Pampa Sagar is constructed across the Tungabhadra River, a tributary of the Krishna River.[1] The dam is in Hosapete, Vijayanagara district of Karnataka. It is a multipurpose dam serving irrigation, electricity generation, flood control, etc. This is a joint project of erstwhile Hyderabad state and erstwhile Madras Presidency when the construction was started;[2] later it became a joint project of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh after its completion in 1953. The main architect of the dam was Vepa Krishnamurthy, ISE, Engineer-in-Chief, Hyderabad State, after Police Action, an engineer from Madras PWD. There is a dispute between Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka for the water of Tungabhadra reservoir. He argued for the stability and longevity of the Dam, built of Surki Mortar viz a combination of mud and limestone. It's the only non-cement and concrete dam in the country and has withstood the test of time for over 70 years, and may well cross many more decades. He envisioned it as being built with a large contingent of manual labour, as best suited to Indian labour availability and employment. The main contractor for the dam was Venkat Reddy Mulamalla, from Konour village, Mahabubnagar, Hyderabad state.
