Kaleshwaram to the rescue: Pumps roar to irrigate 18 lakh acres under SRSP and Nizamsagar

HYDERABAD: The roaring pumps of the world’s largest multi-stage Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) have begun their work when the truant monsoon refused to bring in rains to rescue the ongoing Vanakalam (Kharif) cropping season.

With Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) directing the irrigation officials to start pumping water from the KLIP’s Medigadda barrage, lifting water from the River Pranahitha has begun. The water will fill reservoirs, canals and minor irrigation projects in far-off places such as Sircilla and drylands in Siddipet.

“Initially the aim is to cater to the drinking water requirements under the Mission Bhagiratha scheme, now that there are 27,710 cusecs of inflows of Pranahitha at the Medigadda as anticipated, the Chief Minister in the latest review meeting asked the irrigation officials to start pumping water for agricultural purposes,” said Sridhar Rao Deshpande, advisor on Irrigation to Chief Minister speaking to NewsTAP on Tuesday.

The water which is now being lifted from the Lakshmi pump house will help stabilise 13 lakh acres under the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP), two lakh acres under the Nizamsagar and flood flow canals and another three lakh acres directly under the ayacut created by the KLIP.

“In all 1 TMC will be lifted, out of which SRSP and Mid Manair will receive half TMC each. The KLIP will also cater to the Link-IV reservoir of Kondapochamma, which could even cater to the drinking water needs of Hyderabad city,” Deshpande said.

According to KLIP Engineer-In-Chief Nalla Venkateswarlu, the lifting of water will continue for 45 days unless Monsoon becomes active and saves the Vanakalam crops, mainly paddy, the mainstay of the Telangana farmer. He said that more pumps would be added, if required.

The huge network of lifts

On July 2, the 16.77 TMC capacity Medigadda barrage under KLIP Link -I has 5.5 TMC of water in store. Six pumps at the Lakshmi pump house were turned on without any hassles. Nearly 13,200 cusecs of water is then pumped to Saraswathi barrage in Annaram of Peddapalli.

Under Link 2 of KLIP, four pumps of the Saraswathi barrage are lifting 11,720 cusecs of water and pumping to the Parvathi barrage. From Parvathi, 10,440 cusecs of water is pumped to the Yellampally project. Water from Yellampally is then lifted to SRSP and Rajarajeswara reservoir in Sircilla and Mid Manair.

From the Rajarajeswara reservoir, water will be pumped to 3.5-TMC-capacity Annapurna reservoir to fill it completely.

At the same time, efforts are on to fill the Ranganayaksagar reservoir completely.

KCR’s calculations on Medigadda come true

Even though there is no flood flows in any major river systems, particularly the Godavari, KCR’s calculations of a flood flow in the Pranahitha at the Medigadda barrage site have come true.

The Chief Minister was against building the project at Tummidihatti as he knew that the flow was uneven and at times scanty for a mega project like KLIP. The flood flow was 12,500 cusecs at Medigadda on Sunday even though there were no rains in the catchment areas. The project engineers have been estimating that the barrage may receive a flood of 77,000 cusecs very soon.