Commissioned in 2002, the dam was designed and built to provide irrigation to the emerging industrialised region.

[2] The dam was one of many hastily constructed projects designed to keep apace India's ever-growing population, hence the need to make existing farmland in the region more productive.

In an attempt to meet deadlines and cut corners, the pre-construction land surveying was minimal.

Upon completion in 2005, the reservoir, which was originally intended to cover 820 sq miles, spilled onto Ghod plains, covering an extra 370 sq miles with several feet of water.

The area affected was made worse by the notoriously poor drainage properties of the land in the region.