Kaleshwaram water to flow from August

​Laxmipur (Karimnagar district):  The much-awaited Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) dubbed as the game changer for Telangana is slated to become partly operational from August this year with Irrigation Minister Tanneeru Harish Rao announcing that works at two barrages – Annaram and Sundilla – and their associated pumphouses will be completed by July.

“We have completed 93 per cent of works at Annaram barrage which will have a water storage capacity of 12 tmc with 66 gates. At Sundilla barrage, out 10 lakh tonnes of concrete works to be completed, more than 9 lakh tonnes have already been over. All the works at the two will be completed by July 31,” the minister said on Monday, while interacting with a 60-member national media team.

The team visited the world’s largest irrigation pumping house being built by the Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) near this sleepy village as part of the Package 8 of the integrated, multi-purpose irrigation project. 

The Rs 80,000-crore Kaleshwaram project comprises three barrages, a series of pumphouses and storage tanks, aimed at irrigating 18.25 lakh acres of new ayacut across nine districts and stabilisation of 18.75 lakh acres of existing ayacut, taking the total ayacut under the project to 37 lakh acres. 

The project has been divided into seven links and 28 packages. The first barrage at Medigadda in Bhupalpally district, from where water is lifted from Godavari river and pumped in reverse direction first to Yellampalli reservoir and then to Mid Manair project, is scheduled to be completed by January next year.  

"Of seven links in the project, we stand to gain 50 per cent of benefits from the Kaleshwaram project by completing just Link 1 and 2. Therefore, we are focusing on these two links in order to give our farmers immediate benefits. So far, we have completed 80 per cent of the works in Link 1 and 2,” Harish Rao explained. Link 1 and 2 connect Medigadda with the Mid Manair reservoir.  

Farmers from nine districts such as Jangoan, Warangal Rural, Warangal Urban, Bhupalpally, Mahabubabad, Suryapet, part of Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Kamareddy are expected to benefit from the mega project initially.   

Of the Rs 80,500 crore planned outlay for the mega project, the government has thus far spent close to Rs 35,000 crore.  Till now, 50 per cent of funds came from the state government while remaining sum was availed as loan from the banks. "This (ratio) may change depending on the financial position of the government," he said.   

The Minister further said that with the project, Telangana sought to rewrite the history. “In India, it takes decades to complete a major irritation project. Telangana, the youngest state of the country, seeks to changes this by completing Kaleshwaram project in months, not in decades,” he maintained.  

Asked whether the mega Kaleshwaram project will go waste like some other projects on Godavari if Maharashtra decides to build new projects on the upstream stretch of Pranahita river, he replied in negative. "We have studied everything. There is no chance of that happening. 

Telangana has an allocation of 954 TMC from Godavari basin. So far, we hardly utilised 400 tmc. We have enough water allocation and enough right. Even after using our own 500 tmc, another 2000 tmc Godavari water will go into sea," he claimed.