Sriram Sagar Project, Hydroelectric dam on Godavari River in Nizamabad, India.

The Sriram Sagar Project is a dam built across the Godavari River, with a wall about 43 meters high that creates a large reservoir for storing water. The water is used both to generate electricity and to irrigate farmland across several districts in the region.

The Hyderabad government proposed a dam at Pochampadu in 1953, and Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation on 26 July 1963. The project was renamed Sriram Sagar in 1978, and the reservoir first reached its full level of 1,091 feet in 1983. A hydroelectric plant was added in the 1980s under N. T. Rama Rao.

The project is also called Khustapuram dam, a name tied to the old Hyderabad-era proposal to use upper Godavari water. Its reservoir supplies the Ramagundam thermal power station, and the Kakatiya, Saraswati and Lakshmi canals carry water to fields far beyond Nizamabad district. During heavy monsoon inflows, gates are raised and crowds gather to watch the Godavari surge downstream.

You can walk along or near the dam to see the structure and get views of the water and surrounding countryside. The site is best visited after the rainy season when the water level is higher and the landscape is greener.

The dam is also called the Khustapuram dam, a name from the original proposal investigated by the erstwhile Hyderabad state under Nizam rule to use 227 tmcft of upper Godavari water. The project was renamed Sriram Sagar in 1978. Its reservoir holds 90 tmcft, limited to reduce submergence in Maharashtra.