Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme River Project In Telangana 2020 [Project Cost, Status, Location]
India is a land of several mighty rivers, which traverse the land. The rivers in the north are perennial in nature, while those in the south are seasonal. Godavari is one of the main rivers to flow in the south. But as it too is a seasonal river, it does not have enough water to meet the requirements of the southern states all year round. Thus, the construction of dams and barrages is necessary. Telangana faces acute water shortage in the summer months. The elevation of the state makes dam or barrage construction impossible. It encouraged the state government to come up with an alternate plan that required the assistance of two other neighboring states. After three years, the much-awaited multi-purpose irrigation project is finally ready. This dream project has been named the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. No other nation in the world has a lift irrigation project that can match up to the extent of this scheme.
Launch details
| Name of the scheme | Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme |
| Scheme type | Irrigation scheme |
| Launched in | Telangana |
| Launched by | K Chandrasekhar Rao |
| Supported by | Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra |
| Date of announcement | 2016 |
| Official inauguration date | June, 2019 |
| Inauguration venue | Medigadda |
| Scheme commences from | July 2019 |
| Location of first motor house | Kannepally |
Key facts of the irrigation scheme
- Location of the irrigation project – The massive and multi-utility irrigation scheme has been constructed over the Godavari River.
- Lifting water lever – The natural flow level of the Godavari River will not aid this project naturally. Thus, the irrigation project will ensure that the liver water level rises by half kilometers. It will ensure proper storage and supply of water in the entire state.
- Budget for the scheme – The irrigation scheme was started in 2016. Then the budget, allocated for the foundation of this project was a whopping Rs 80,500.
- Water lifting capacity – For meeting the irrigational and other water-related requirements, around 2 TMC feet (thousand million cubic) of Godavari River water will be successfully lifted with the help of pumps. This waster will then be distributed to the required fields.
- Supply route and gravity canals – There is no other irrigation project that can boast of water supply channels, which measure upto 1,832 km. The presence of gravity canals also help in the water lifting and steady flow. This project has 1,531 km gravity canal.
- Tunnel construction – The water will be distributed to all parts of the state via 203 km tunnel extensions.
- Number of lifts and pump houses – An irrigation scheme of this proportion will require the meticulous operation of 19 pump houses and 20 lifts.
- Number of reservoirs and total capacity – Reservoirs play an important part in this irrigation project. These store houses will hold the excess water that will be used in the drier months. 19 reservoirs will accumulate as much as 141 TMC water.
- Power requirement – It will not be easy to supply the necessary amounts of electrical power to ensure that the machines run smoothly. 4,992 MW of electrical power will help the pumps to lift TMC water regularly. When the lifting capacity reaches 3 TMC water, the power consumption will increase to 7,152 MW.
- Stage-wise water lifting – When the irrigation will be in full swing, it will aid in lifting water from 92 meter to 618 meters.
Main benefits of the irrigation project
- Elimination of water crisis – Water crisis was a perennial problem for the people of the southern states. With this massive irrigation scheme in place, people and farmers alike will acquire respite from this.
- Land under irrigation – As offering proper irrigational facilities was a motto of the Telangana government, with the commencement of this massive scheme around 45 lakh acres farm lands will get easy access to artificial irrigation.
- Water for two main crops – The Telangana government realized that the main cause of poor crop yield is lack of water. One of the many purposes of this scheme was to save the farmers from crop failure due to water shortage. Depending on the crops, the requirement of water changes. The irrigation facilities will change the face and quality of Kharif and Rabi crops.
- Distributing drinking water – Many rural as well as urban areas do not have access to adequate safe drinking water. The operation of this irrigation project will solve this issue as well. The project is capable of supplying 40 TMC feet drinking water on a daily basis under the Mission Bhagiratha. Additionally, around 1 crore people, residing in Greater Hyderabad will no longer have to worry about the supply of drinking water.
- Supplies water for industrial needs – Several industries are situated in these parts, and they fail to function to their full capacity due to water shortage. With the help of this irrigation project, the state government will be able to 16 TMC feet water for quenching the requirements of the industrial belts.
- Hydro power plants – Due to the presence of dams and smaller barrages, the possibility of deriving hydro-electricity increases by many folds. Though such plants have not yet been made a part of this project, in future, such plants can be opened and the power produced will supply electricity to domestic as well as industrial areas.
Step-by-step lift irrigation procedure
| Name of the area | Location height (meters) | Lift height (meters) | Total amount of water usage (TMC) |
| Medigadda | 92 | — | 16.17 |
| Yellampally | 148 | 56 | 75 |
| Mid-Mannair | 318 | 70 | 25.873 |
| Sriram Sagar | 332.54 | 14.54 | 200 |
| Malakpet | 432.50 | 127.50 | 8.6 |
| Anantagiri | 397 | 95 | 3 |
| Ranganayaka Sagar | 490 | 117 | 11 |
| Mallanna Sagar | 557 | 103 | 108 |
| Kondapochamma Sagar | 618 | 120 | 29 |
The people of Telangana will forever be thankful to their CM for making this seemingly impossible task, a reality. On the day of the inauguration, the CM of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra were also by K Chandrasekhar Rao’s side. In this speech, he highlighted that the speedy completion of this scheme would not have been possible without help of the government of these two states. The neighboring states will also be benefited from the multi-purpose lift irrigation scheme in the near future.
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