Telangana’s Kaleshwaram recognised as an enduring symbol of engineering progress by ASCE

ASCE President Maria Lehman bestowed the distinguished recognition on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project as an enduring symbol of engineering progress and partnership

Hyderabad: Telangana’s Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project has been recognised as an enduring symbol of engineering progress and partnership by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the United States of America’s oldest engineering society founded in 1852.

The ASCE’s plaque bestowing this prestigious recognition to the project, was handed over to IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao at the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress at Nevada, US on Monday.

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The ACSE recognition, pointing out that the project strives to increase total cultivable command area across the 13 districts in addition to stabilizing the existing cultivable command area, also said the project, in addition to constructing new reservoirs, was rejuvenating existing ones as well.

ASCE President Maria Lehman, through the plaque, bestowed the distinguished recognition on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project as ‘an enduring symbol of engineering progress and partnership’.

Minister Rama Rao, addressing the event later, called the journey of Telangana a story of resilience and transformation, of groundbreaking engineering achievements and the odyssey of the purpose-driven leadership of one man.

The Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project and Mission Bhagiratha, he said, were not only completed in record time but also with utmost efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Telangana had achieved extraordinary milestones in the last nine years, and was now boasting of the highest per capita income in the country, had become the second-largest contributor of rice from the earlier position of 24th and was the only State in India providing free drinking water to its citizens.

“When K Chandrashekhar Rao led the Telangana Statehood movement and became the first elected Chief Minister of the State, he had a clear vision of transforming Telangana and improving the lives of its people. Through strategic planning, innovative thinking, and meticulous execution, he translated his vision into tangible results. The completion of the Kaleshwaram project in record time stands as a testament to his exceptional leadership and his ability to turn ambitious ideas into concrete achievements,” Rama Rao said.

Narrating the Kaleshwaram story, Rama Rao said the Chief Minister had assumed the roles of both chief architect and engineer, and despite naysayers and conventions, devised the Kaleshwaram Multi-Stage Lift Irrigation Project, the first of its kind in India and the largest in the world.

The Kaleshwaram Project, which lifts river water from an elevation of 90 metres to 618 metres above sea level, was completed in a record span of just four years with an investment of US$ 11 billion.

The Minister, explaining the magnitude of the project, said the amount of earth moved during its construction would fill 101 Pyramids of Giza, while the steel used in the project would be enough to build 66 Eiffel Towers, and the concrete poured would erect 53 Burj Khalifas and in the American context, a few Hoover Dams.

“The Kaleshwaram Project is a testament to a leader’s relentless pursuit and unwavering commitment. KCR, by lifting a river against all odds, has uplifted millions of lives and livelihoods in Telangana,” he said.

The project, he said, not only solved the State’s water problems but is now playing an instrumental role in boosting the five revolutions – the Green Revolution (agriculture), White Revolution (Dairy sector), Pink Revolution (livestock), Blue Revolution (fisheries) and Yellow Revolution (Oil Palm and edible oils).

The Minister also offered to host the IPWE convention in Telangana in 2025.