METTUR DAM

The Mettur Dam is one of the largest dams in India and also the largest in Tamil Nadu, located across the river Kaveri where it enters the plains. Built in 1934, it took nine years to complete.[1] Maximum height and width of the dam are 214 and 171 feet, respectively.[2] The dam receives inflows from its own catchment area, Kabini Dam and Krishna Raja Sagara Dams located in Karnataka. There is a park at the base of the dam. It provides irrigation and drinking water facilities for more than 12 districts of Tamil Nadu and hence is revered as the life and livelihood-giving asset Tamilnadu

HISTORY 

It was constructed under the supervision of an Irish engineer, Vincent Hart, who was also the chief engineer of the project. It took nine years[2] and the effort of 17,000 men to complete the dam project. After the construction was complete, Mettur Dam over Kaveri became the largest dam in the world.[3] The funds were provided from the taxes collected in the Madras Presidency. The Board of Revenue was headed by Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer who initiated the building of the dam.[4] As a result, the dam authorities evacuated the people of Nayambadi and some other villages where the dam was sited. When the water level of the reservoir recedes, even now old Christian Church of Nayamabadi and some Hindu temples from other villages emerge from it as proof.[5] Those people who migrated from Nayambadi have settled down in Martalli, Cowdalli and other nearby villages in the Kollegal taluk of Chamarajanagar district of the state of Karnataka.