Kaleshwaram pumps roar back into action; Operations begin from Nandi Medaram

Operations were resumed on Saturday at the Nandi Medaram pump house to which water was released through the gravity canal from the Sripada Yellampalli reservoir.

Hyderabad: Overcoming the negative predictions over its fate and disproving the concerns voiced about its sustainability, the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project has once again flexed its hydraulic muscles and commenced drawl of water from Godavari.

Operations were resumed on Saturday at the Nandi Medaram pump house to which water was released through the gravity canal from the Sripada Yellampalli reservoir.

Vexed with a long wait for irrigation support for its vast ayacut under multiple projects to be fed by the Kaleshwaram project, BRS working president KT Rama Rao had on Friday served an ultimatum to the State government demanding it to commence operations of the lift irrigation scheme by August 2 or else let the farmers do it on their own.

He had led a delegation of BRS MLAs and MLCs to the Medigadda Barrage, Kannepalli pump house and other key components of the multi stage-Kaleshwaram Project questioning the delay in resuming pumping operations. He demanded the government to consider the growing demand for irrigation under a string of reservoirs integrated with the KLIP network, raising above political considerations.

In a swift turnaround of developments, the State government came out with an assurance that the pumping operations under the project would commence in two to three days.

But Irrigation officials rushed to the Yellampalli project and put two of its pumping units into operation by evening lifting 6,538 cusecs. Two more pumping units would also be made functional to raise the volume of drawl from the project. The inflows into the Yellampalli reservoir that were in the range of 17000 cusecs on Friday had come down to 14000 cusecs on Saturday and the present storage level in the project was also over 17 TMC, just three TMC short of its gross storage capacity.

The water lifted from the Nandi Medaram pump house would be delivered into the SRSP flood canal through which it would be routed to the Mid Manair reservoir.

Besides the SRSP ayacut, the reservoirs of Ranganayaka Sagar, Mallanna Sagar and Kondapochamma Sagar would also be the beneficiaries of the KLIP water. The SRSP also started receiving an inflow of 35,000 cusecs on Saturday holding hope for the Kharif cultivation in its ayacut.

The Medigadda Barrage continued to receive an inflow of over 6.07 lakh cusecs mainly from Pranahita river.

In view of the rising inflows, the project officials have been confident of operating the lifts at the Kannepalli pump house drawing from Medigadda to Annaram and Sundilla as it was the case last year.

The interim repairs were also completed on Medigadda barrage, especially on Block 7 where the piers had sunk. However, the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), which is still investigating the structural issues, is yet to give its nod.