Sri Oondreeswarar Temple and Poondi Reservoir/ Sathyamurti Sagar, Poondi, Tiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu.

Poondi Lake / Satyamurti Reservoir / Sathyamurti Sagar was built on the river Kosasthalaiyar, to meet the drinking water requirement to Madras, the present Chennai after crossing political and financial hurdles.  The Poondi Reservoir was constructed by the Madras PWD between August 1940 to 14^th, June 1944 at a cost of 65 Lakhs of which 39.42 lakhs was treated as loan and the balance as grant by the Government. The Poondi Reservoir was named after Sathyamurthi, a freedom fighter and also he who initiated this project when he served as a Mayor of Madras. The surplus water continued in Kosasthaiyar  and diverted to Sholavaram lake and Puzhal lake through Thamaraipakkam anaicut. ( https://veludharan.blogspot.com/2017/03/thamaraipakkam-anaicut-check-dam-part.html ). Latter in 1972, a 15 KM canal called Poondi canal was excavated, to carry water to Sholavaram lake directly.

The Present Oondreeswarar Temple 

A Foundation stone was laid to mark the beginning of this project   on 8^th August 1940 by Madras City Water supply by his Excellency Honorable Sir Arthur Hope  G C I E., M.C,, then Governor of Madras.

The list of Mayors holds the office during the period of construction of this reservoir are….

Sri K. Venkataswami Naidu                     Mayor 1938 - 1939

Sri S Sathyamurthi                                 Mayor 1939 – 1940

Sri C Basu Dev                                       Mayor 1940 – 1941

Sri G Janakirama Chetty                         Mayor 1941 –

Sri V Chakkarai Chetti                            Mayor 1941 - 1942

Sri Rao Bahadur C Tadulinga Mudaliar    Mayor 1942 - 1943

Dr Syed Niyamathullah                           Mayor 1943 – 1944

And Commissioner O Pulla Reddy ESQ and C Muniswami Achari Water works Engineer.

The followings are the technical details of this reservoir Sathyamurthi Sagar.

Catchment area of the Courtaliar River at the regulator Site 760 Sq Miles.

Maximum Computed Flood Discharge     1,20.000 Cusecs

Bed level of River at site                          1.5 ( 105, 0 Scrapped )

Full Reservoir Level F.R.L                       138.00

Water Spread at F.R.L                             2750 M Cubic Ft

Length of the masonry regulator between abutment  770 Ft

Length of the right side stop bank           2 miles 2 Furlongs

Number of vents in the regulators   

                14 of 40’ x 15’ with sill at        115.00 ( 32 M )

                & 2 of 20’ x 10’ with sill at       105.00

Level of Road way                                   145.25

Shutter operating bridge level                  157.00

Dead Storage level                                  112’00” (34.1 M)

Capacity of Dead storage                         10.27 Mcft

Length of the baby Channel ( Intake )       15.65 KM (Thamaraipakkam )

Length of the link Canal                           25.754 KM 

( Chembarambakkam )

Length of the Feeder Canal ( Red Hills )     21.500 KM

Cost of Scheme        ( Reservoir alone )      Rs 65 Lakhs

Milestones of Poondi Reservoir.

1939 – The Proposal of constructing a reservoir was submitted by S Sathyamurthy.

1940 - August 8^th, The Project foundation stone was laid without any formal ceremony.

1942 – Oondreswarar Temple was shifted to the present place.

1943 – March 28^th S Sathyamurthi passed away, nearly one year before the reservoir was completed.

1944 – June 14^th 1944, the project was completed.

1944 – The institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology was established at Poondi.

1948 – 28^th May, Poondi Reservoir was named after S Sathyamurthi as “Sathyamurthi Sagar” due to the influence of  K Kamaraj.  

1968 – A formal Agreement was signed to bring water from Krishna River.

1972 – Poondi canal connecting Poondi Reservoir and Thamaraipakkam.

1983 – Telugu Ganga Project was formally launched and Indra Gandhi as Prime Minister participated and formal agreement was signed by NT Rama Rao and MG Ramachandran. The same was aimed to complete by 1990.  Rs 2000 Cores was spent by Andhra Pradesh and 500 Cores was given by Tamil Nadu.

1996 – September, Telugu Ganga project was completed after crossing the financial hurdles  and received only 0.5 TMC due to evaporation, seepage, etc. After rectification of the problems 12 TMC of water was realized, with a loss of 3 TMC.

2006 – At Congress Headquarters, A Statue of Sathyamurthi was unveiled by his daughter Lakshmi Krishnamurthy  and named after him.

2008 – 2009 A 35 MLD pumping station was installed to reduce the water loss.

Ref:http://www.shanlaxjournals.in/wp-content/uploads/ash_v5n4_056.pdf

Oondreswarar Temple.

The Oondreeswarar  Temple, one of the Paadal Petra Sthalam of Thondai nadu’s history is closely linked to the Poondi reservoir. The Chozha period Oondreswarar Temple, which was reconstructed during Vijayanagara period, shifted to the present place to give way for the construction of the Poondi reservoir. Before re-construction of the original temple’s, Chozha period Moolavar, Ambal, Nandhi, Vinayagar, Arumugar and Bhairavar were shifted to Sri Gangadeeswarar Temple, Purasawalkam, Chennai.

https://veludharan.blogspot.com/2015/08/purasawalkam-villivakkam-shiva-temples.html. The original idols were retained in the Sri Gangadeswarar Temple, Purasawalkam, even after completion of the present temple at Poondi. So, New Idols were made and installed in the newly re-constructed Temple. The fate of original inscription stones are known, but the recorded inscriptions are written on the back side of wall of Ambal Sannidhi.

Original Idols at Sri Gangadeeswarar Temple Purasawalkam

LOCATION OF SATHYAMURTHI SAGAR : CLICK HERE

PC : Wikipedia

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