Telangana”s prestigious Kaleshwaram project across Godavari river reached another key milestone on Friday with the water reaching Kondapochamma Sagar reservoir in Siddipet district. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao in the presence of Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamy amid chanting of Vedic hymns switched on the pumps to inaugurate the reservoir, marking another milestone in the multi-stage Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), described as an engineering marvel and the world”s biggest project of its kind. With this Godavari water has reached the highest level (618 meters) and 229 km away from Laxmi Barrage at Medigadda, the starting point of KLIS, which is aimed at making Godavari a live river all through the year over a stretch of 274 km.
From Kondapochamma Sagar, which has a capacity of 15 TMC, water will be supplied through gravity to the hitherto arid lands, which had no irrigation water facility till date, officials said. Before reaching Markuk to inaugurate the reservoir, the chief minister and his wife participated in Chandiyagam at Kondapochamma temple. They performed special pooja, participated in the Purnahuthi and received blessings from the Vedic scholars. The reservoir has been named after the temple located on the borders of the united Medak, Warangal and Nalgonda districts.A There is Komuravelli Mallikarjuna (Mallanna) temple also in the vicinity. The chief minister named the biggest reservoir under the project as Malanna Sagar.
Chandi Yagam, Sudarshan Yagam, Gangamma pooja and other related rituals were performed as part of the inauguration of Kondapochamma Sagar project. KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, along with some ministers and officials visited the Project Discharge Canal to welcome the Godavari waters. He performed pooja to aGodavari Gangamma”. He will later participate in a community lunch to celebrate the landmark. The engineers have readied six pumps of 34 MW each at Markuk pumphouse, the symbolic inaugural run was limited to two pumps. Officials said water from the reservoir will be supplied for irrigation through the canal network by next monsoon. It was on June 21, 2019 that KLIS was inaugurated by the Chief Minister along with then Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in the presence of then Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Billed as the world”s largest multi-stage, multi-purpose lift irrigation project, it is designed to lift the water to a height of half-a-kilometre and irrigate 45 lakh acres for two crops in a year, meet the drinking water requirement of 70 per cent of the state and also cater to the needs of the industry. The foundation stone for the Rs 80,500 crore project was laid in 2016 and claimed to be the world”s biggest project of its kind, completed in the shortest time. Claimed to be an engineering marvel, the project comprises 1,832 km water supply route, 1,531 km gravity canal, 203 km tunnel routes, 20 lifts, 19 pump houses and 19 reservoirs with a storage capacity of 141 TMC. It requires nearly 4,992 MW of electricity to pump 2 TMC of water every day in the first phase.
IANS
