The chief architects of the dam were Vepa Krishnamurthy and Pallimalli Papaiah of Hyderabad and M. S. Tirumale Iyengar of Madras.

The famine-ridden region of Rayalseema, then comprising the districts of Bellary, Anantapur, Kurnool and Cuddapah, attracted the attention of British engineers as early as 1860.

To relieve the intensity of famines in these districts, proposals were made in 1860 to utilise the waters of the Tungabhadra through a storage reservoir and a system of canals to provide irrigation for the lands.

The report thus submitted was accepted by the Government of Madras with certain modifications fixing the sill level at RL 1550 ft.

The June 1944 agreement between Madras and Hyderabad enabled the two governments to finally begin the construction of the Tungabhadra project.

The Tungabhadra Project was formally inaugurated by laying foundation stones on 28 February 1945 by Nawab Azam Jah, the Prince of Berar, on the left side of the dam and by the Baron Sir Arthur Hope, Governor of Madras, on the right.

However, owing to India's freedom in 1947, the explosive political unrest in Hyderabad in 1948, and due to differences of opinion in certain technical matters, much headway could not be made until January 1949.

Acquisition of lands and villages and rehabilitation of the displaced population from the water spread area of up to 1630 ft contour were completed by September 1953.

In 1954, an investigation of the remaining portion of canal from Mile 79/2 to Mile116/0 was completed and a project report was submitted to the Government of India for approval.

The proposals were further reviewed and a final project report was submitted to the Planning Commission for clearance, estimating the costs at Rs.

The balance portion of the low-level canal from Mile 173 to 203 that had to be excavated by the Government of Andhra Pradesh was completed by the end of March 1957.

The balance of the works, namely the spillway, bridge road on the top of the dam, construction of utility tower, manufacture of crest grates for storing water up to 1633 level were completed in all respects by the end of June 1958.

The first stage scheme was inaugurated by Sir Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi, Governor of Andhra Pradesh, on 2 October 1956 under the presidency of K. Manjappa, Chief Minister of Mysore.

The Tungabhadra Hydroelectric Scheme was undertaken in the composite Madras State in the post-war period under the first five-year plan in the year 1950.

Subsequently, a number of conferences between the governments of Madras, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Bombay took place, but all were inconclusive.

However, due to some differences in interpretation of the agreement between Madras and Hyderabad, no substantial progress was made in implementing the project.

It was in a conference between the governments of Madras and Hyderabad held on 26 June 1944 that a final decision was arrived at on the allocation of waters as well as on taking up the project jointly and sharing the cost equally between the two states.

[6] On the right side of the dam, the tall Sanduru hill ranges extending up to 800 m MSL are close to the periphery of the Tungabhadra reservoir.

This reservoir is an ideal place to install pumped storage hydropower plants and lift irrigation projects.

A moderate high level storage reservoir of capacity 20 tmcft at FRL 620 m MSL, can be constructed by damming the Sanduru valley.

The water pumped during the monsoon months into the upper pond can be diverted by gravity to irrigate an extensive area in the uplands up to 600 m MSL in Rayalaseema and Karnataka.