Palamuru will replicate Konaseema region in a decade: Niranjan Reddy on PRLI

HYDERABAD: Telangana Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) kept his promise of providing water from the River Krishna to the people in Mahabubnagar through the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation (PRLI) Scheme.

In a statement issued on Friday, Niranjan Reddy said that the long term efforts of KCR had resulted in environmental clearances from the Centre for PRLI Scheme and in a decade Palamuru region would replicate Konaseema region in Andhra Pradesh. Though the results of the project were supposed to be available to the public two years ago, due to various factors such as court cases, objections of the neighbouring State and non-cooperation of the Central Government were the major reasons for the delay in completion of the project within a stipulated time period, he said.

Niranjan Reddy added that despite all the obstacles, around 85 per cent of the PRLI Scheme work had already been completed and the remaining works would be completed expeditiously. “KCR will release the water from the PRLI project soon to address the water woes of farmers and people in Mahabubnagar which have remained unfulfilled for the last six decades. The erection works of the pumps in Narlapur and Yedula have already been completed and the remaining works are pending for permission,” he said.

The Agriculture Minister said that steps were being taken to organise programmes to celebrate the historical victory for Telangana with the farmers in Narlapur, Yedula, Vattem, Karvena and Uddandapur reservoirs that the State Government succeeded in getting clearances for PRLI Scheme against all odds. “The PRLI project is so large that it has a total pumping capacity of 145 Megawatts which means the horsepower of each motor is 1.96 lakh. The project is designed in such a way that it handles 2 TMCs of water per day. The pumping capacity of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project is 139 Megawatts,” Niranjan Reddy said.

Giving a detailed outline of pumping capacities of various reservoirs under PRLI project, Niranjan Reddy said that Narlapur Anjanagiri Reservoir was equipped with 10 pumps of 145 MW capacity. The reservoir dam length was 11 km 60 meters in height and could handle a capacity of 6.5 TMC. Steps were being taken to conduct a dry run and the first pump would be inaugurated by the end of August, he said. “The Yedula Veeranjaneya reservoir is developed with a length of 7.5 km and completed in a record time of 24 months. The Yedula pump house is equipped with 10 pumps of 145 MW capacity. Around Rs 205 crore is provided by the Government as compensation for the 1,299 land oustees of the reservoir, besides stabilsing 50,000 acres of Ayakat,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, the Vettam Venkatadri Reservoir was developed at 15.23 km length which covers 1.39 lakh acres of Ayakat. The Vattem pump house was equipped with 10 pumps of 145 MW capacity. Similarly, the Karven Kurumarthyraya reservoir was developed with 19 TMC capacity and it was developed at a 15-km length. The reservoir could cover 1.50 lakh Ayakat and the canal's length was 110 km. While the length of Udandapur Reservoir was 15.8 km with 16.03 TMCs capacity and it could cover 9.36 lakh Ayakattu, Niranjan Reddy said.