Hyderabad: The much-awaited works for lifting 3 TMC from Link II and Link IV of the flagship multi-stage Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) is expected to begin from November.
While works for lifting an additional TMC of water under Link I had begun right from day one of the launch of the project, works on the other two links which was to commence in July this year was delayed because of incessant rains. With the tender process completed, the works are expected to move at a faster rate now.
Under Link 1, the capacity building for lifting the 3 tmc from Lakshmi (Medigadda) barrage up to Yellampalli has been completed. This essentially means that the works to lift additional tmc from Medigadda, via Saraswathi (Annaram), Parvathi (Sundilla) barrages and Kannepalli, Siripuram, and Goliwada pump houses and the connecting the 13 km long gravity canal have been completed. The gravity canal was in fact built to carry 3 tmc of water everyday.
Medigadda initially had 11 pumps, each with 40 MW power, having the capacity to pump 2 TMC per day. Subsequently, six pumps were added taking the total number of pumps to 17 to lift the additional 1 tmc. Installation of these pumps has been completed and the testing is also going on. Civil works for the 17 pumps and draft tubes were simultaneously undertaken. The fore-bays, which are artificial pools where water would be dropped by the 17 pumps, have also been constructed.
As old as the project itself
“Work on the third tmc was going on since the inception of the project. On the day of inauguration on June 21, 2019, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy witnessed the installation work for lifting 3 TMC, but now he is blaming Telangana State for adding an additional TMC,” Sridhar Rao Deshpande, OSD for water resources at the Chief Minister’s Office told Telangana Today.
Explaining further, he said that on the day of inauguration of the project, work on 17 pumps to lift 3 tmc of water had begun. “The pump house the AP Chief Minister inaugurated had provision for 17 pumps and works were going on even at that time. When he went to see the delivery cistern, the systems for the delivery pumps were very much there,” the senior irrigation expert pointed out.
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