Warangal: Linking of two historical lakes aims at irrigating 30,000 acres of land

Warangal: The premise is, small is beautiful. The linking of two Kakatiya-era lakes - Ramappa and Pakhal - has indeed a boon for the Narsampet farmers who never had the luxury of cultivating a second crop. Saturday's trial run of the Rs 282 crore project, aimed at irrigating 30,000 acres drawing waters from Ramappa lake, brought cheers in the faces of farmers.

It may be mentioned here that the State Government had given a green signal to take up the project on February 10, 2017. The plan is to construct a 24-km-long pipeline (with 2.5 m diameter) from Ramappa lake to Dabbavagu stream which merges with Pakhal lake after 9 kilometers.

The Ramappa lake would also work as a balancing reservoir for Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme under Phase III. Ramappa lake will be filled with the waters sourced from Godavari river under Devadula project. It provides enough waters to pump and fill Pakhal lake, a medium irrigation project. The two motors installed at the Ramappa pump house were to lift 15 million cubic feet (MCFT) a day. As of now, the 3.23 TMC Ft-capacity Pakhal lake which is spread over 5,300 acres irrigating around 30,000 acres is the lifeline of the local farmers. The pipeline link between the Ramappa and Pakhal allows the ayacut farmers to cultivate even in the Rabi.

Narsampet MLA Peddi Sudarshan Reddy said, "The project allows to draw 3 TMC Ft for Pakhal lake and 2 TMC Ft for Rangaya cheruvu. Kudos, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who made the project possible." He offered prayers to the project wasters near Keerya Thanda under Khanapur mandal on Saturday.

Speaking to The Hans India, P Ramesh, a farmer from Khanapuram, said, "It's a dream come true. We now will be able to go for yasangi (rabi).