Telangana awaits NDSA nod to resume pumping at Annaram, Sundilla barrages

“We are now confident of resuming pumping operations at Annaram and Sundilla barrages. We are waiting for the NDSA nod to go ahead with lifting of water from Godavari,”senior officials in the Irrigation Department said.

Hyderabad: A major part of the interim works recommended by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) on the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages, key components of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), were completed.

“We are now confident of resuming pumping operations at Annaram and Sundilla barrages. We are waiting for the NDSA nod to go ahead with lifting of water from Godavari,”senior officials in the Irrigation Department said.

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The NDSA team was expected to revisit the three barrages last week to take stock of the works completed. However, citing the ongoing session of the Parliament, they postponed their visit. They are expected to make a stock-taking visit to the barrages by July 10. Once the completion of the interim works as desired is certified by the NDSA team, the project authorities will focus their attention to pumping operations. The pump houses at both Annaram and Sundilla have been kept ready. They would be put into operation after getting the nod from the NDSA.

Officials said the focus of the Irrigation Department was more on the preliminary exercise that needs to be completed before resuming pumping operations. All the major reservoirs integrated with the Lift Irrigation Scheme are more or less empty today. The first inflows of the year started reaching Annaram and Sundilla barrages.

“We can fill the reservoirs where water levels continue to be alarmingly low even in the first week of July. The reservoirs would be filled one by one, extending support to the ayacut,” they said.

Pumping of water from the Medigadda barrage was also planned initially. It required a makeshift cofferdam to be put up before the onset of monsoon. But there was every possibility of such a makeshift structure getting washed away in the event of heavy floods that are common in Godavari from July to September.

“We are planning to resume pumping at Medigadda barrage only in October this year. Pumping can be done without impounding water at the barrage if the inflows were in the range of 35000 cusecs to 40,000 cusecs. There would be no need to put up any weir or ring bund when the river was in spate. As desired by the NDSA team, grouting works were completed in both the upstream and downstream stretches of the barrages. All the 45 crest gates of the barrages were kept open well in advance. The department had plans to complete the interim works by June 10. But the works continued till the end of June, as there were no major inflows at Medigadda barrage. But inflows at Medigadda have seen a sudden rise from 1100 cusecs to 11000 cusecs on June 30. There could be further increase as Pranahita, a major tributary of Godavari, has been contributing to the flow,” officials said.

The ongoing works were stopped at the barrage following this. Grouting works on the upstream and downstream stretches of the barrages were completed. End-to-end inspections of the barrage blocks were also completed. Cracks in a few places of the barrage were also addressed. Silt and sand blocks obstructing the flow were also cleared. The distressed piers were attended to. Similar measures were taken up at the Annaram and Sundilla barrages also. The gates were lifted to minimize hydraulic forces on the gates and structures.

However, the investigations taken up on the three barrages by drafting the services of the central agencies — the Central Soil and Materials Research Station (CSMRS), the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), and the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) – were still in progress. The investigations are expected to take a few more months, the officials added.