World’s biggest project in Telangana set to water state’s crops, villages

Through this project, Telangana will harness water at the confluence of three rivers with Godavari by constructing a barrage at Medigadda in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district and reverse pump the water into the main Godavari River and divert it into a huge and complex system of reservoirs, water tunnels, pipelines and canals. The project had to be built at such a size and scale because while the Godavari flows at 100 metres above mean sea level (MSL), Telangana region is located at 300 to 650 metres above MSL.

The project is all set to create a world record in the first week of August when the gigantic pumps with a capacity of 139 MW each will start lifting 2 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water per day. It will receive water from Medigadda Barrage on Godavari River through a 14.09-kilometre (km) long underground tunnel, the longest irrigation tunnel in the world. The pumps would operate at a cavern and surge pool which also holds a record for being the biggest in the world with a capacity to hold 2 crore litres of water. “This is the first time in the world that an irrigation project is using 139 MW pumps to lift huge volume of 2 TMC of water. Of the seven pumps, we will start operating five pumps initially,” said B Srinivas Reddy, director of Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd. The company is executing a part known as Package 8 of the project and located at Lakshmipur in Karimnagar district. Parts of the pumps are being manufactured by BHEL at Bhopal.

The 2 TMC of water would be pumped to two nearby barrages — Annaram and Sundilla — from where water will go to Yellampalli reservoir from where the distribution will begin through gravity canals and pipelines to nearby districts.

Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao said that by this Dussehra, the 120-km long link involving tunnels, canals and pumps, between Medigadda — the main barrage at the source on Godavari — to Mid-Manair reservoir would be ready. “When that is done, 50 per cent of the Kaleshwaram project would be completed… that, too, in less than five years,” Rao said. “… Water will become Telangana’s economic power because farmers will be able to sow two crops, and thousands of crores worth of fishing industry would flourish in the fresh water in this project alongside tourism and water sports,” Rao said. Once the Medigadaa-Mid-Manair is connected, the government will start distributing irrigation and drinking water to nearly 20 lakh acres in new areas for the first time in Telangana.

The massive project divided into seven links and 28 packages involves digging of 20 reservoirs in 13 districts with a total capacity to store 145 TMC. The reservoirs are inter-connected through a network of tunnels running about 330 km, the longest underground tunnel is 21-km long connecting Yellampalli reservoir with Medaram reservoir. The canal network covers over 1832 km, taking water as far away as Narketpally in Nalgonda district which is 500 km away from the source. Apart from the seven lift pumps at Ramadugu pumping station at Lakshmipur, 14 lifts are being installed at strategic locations and the highest point is Kondapochamma reservoir in Gajwel at a height of 650 metres from MSL where water will be lifted, said Officer on Special Duty Sridhar Deshpande.