MYSURU, 3 AUG

Social welfare minister Dr HC Mahadevappa on Sunday said Tippu Sultan was the first to lay the foundation stone for the construction of the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam in Srirangapatna taluk of Mysuru district. 

The name of Tipu Sultan is mentioned in the welcome arch of the KRS gate as being the first to initiate this project. "People need guts and courage to issue this kind of statement, to speak the truth, the history of the KRS," he said. 

Mahadevappa was speaking after inaugurating Rajarshi Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar Punyasmarana programme at Srirangapatna taluk. 

He said the KRS, constructed across the river Cauvery near Kannamabadi in Srirangapatna taluk, is the lifeline of people of Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Bengaluru and several other cities and towns, as it not only supplies drinking water, but also irrigates lakhs of acres of agricultural land in these districts. 

The construction of the dam was completed in 1938 by the engineering marvel of the State, Sir M Visvesaraya.       

People should not distort history, it speaks about facts, truth, he said. 

He also credited Tipu Sultan with the elimination of the Devadasi system, the introduction of silk and sericulture and protecting poor farmers against landlords, besides safeguarding several Hindu temples.