The foundation stone for this modern monument was laid by Late Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1971. Located on the border of the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, it is built upon the Betwa River. The catchment area formed by the dam is around 17000 square kilometres, which had led to the submersion of around 70 villages.
Three canals distribute water from the dam out of which two supply water to Uttar Pradesh while one supplies to Madhya Pradesh. Three turbines of 15 megawatt each are installed to produce electricity.
The length of the sand barrier constructed is more than 11 kilometres, which is longest sand barrier in any dam in Asia. The cement dam is 600 metres long and 73.5 metres high. Ancient villages, such as Panchmnagar, Bari, Toda, Sirsaur, Naredi were lost to the water and the sculptures recovered from these places have been collected in the Ramnagar Palace Museum.
