Lifeline To South Telangana: KCR to launch PRLIS today

♦ Rs 35,000 cr being spent to provide irrigation to 12.3 lakh acres

♦ To meet drinking water needs of the South Telangana region

♦ 80 per cent of works for drinking water component completed

♦ Irrigation component construction to be launched soon

♦ Power needs: 2,944 MW; Energy consumption: 4,366 MUs

Hyderabad: The prestigious Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Scheme (PRLIS), which has been installed with the largest pump sets with 145 MW capacity, is all set to start operations on Saturday. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will flag off the wet run of the project at Narlapur reservoir by releasing water for drinking water needs.

The project has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 35,000 crore to provide irrigation water to 12.3 lakh acres of agricultural lands and supplying drinking to the old South Telangana districts of Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar, Rangareddy as also Hyderabad. Touted the project as lifeline for South Telangana, irrigation officials said that all the pump sets with big capacity have been manufactured indigenously by BHEL’s Bhopal unit. The capacity of the pump sets was higher than those of Kaleshwaram project, which have not been used by any other country so far to lift water. The Palamuru project will lift 90 tmcft of floodwater in 60 days from the Srisailam reservoir on the Krishna river every rainy season.

80 per cent of the construction of the project meant for drinking water needs has been completed and the works for irrigation needs will be started soon.

Drinking water will be supplied to 1,226 villages in the districts of Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Narayanpet, Vikarabad, Rangareddy, and Nalgonda under the first phase. Arrangements are being made to supply water to Hyderabad soon after the completion of the reservoirs. Water will be lifted in five stages through pumping stations Yellur in Kollapur mandal in Nagarkurnool district to KP Lakshmi Devi Palli village near Shadnagar in the first phase.

Under the second phase, works involving the development of a canal network from the reservoirs to provide irrigation facilities for the targeted 12.3 lakh acres of agricultural land and cater to industrial requirements will be completed in two years time. On the inauguration day, the Chief Minister will reach Narlapur intake which connects Krishna river (Srisailam fore flow) and switch on the pump sets. Through wet run, Krishna water will be pumped through the Bahubali pumps and reach nearby Narlapur reservoir. As soon as the motors are switched on, CM KCR will reach the Narlapur reservoir and perform special pujas to river Krishna. This event will unfold another golden chapter in the history of Telangana irrigation sector, said Agriculture minister S Niranjan Reddy while interacting with the reporters at the project site.

The total power requirement of the project is 2,944 MW and the total energy consumption of the project is 4,366 million units (MUs) per annum. Total Power will be supplied by DISCOMS of the Telangana state.