Upadate On Kaleshwaram Project

With Medigadda barrage receiving good inflows from Pranahita, two pumping units of the Kannepalli pumphouses have been put into operation, marking the formal commissioning of the mega Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) on Saturday.

One more pumping unit would also be brought into operation from Saturday night, adding to the volume of drawal from Godavari river, according to the Project Engineer -in-Chief S Nalla Venkateswarlu. He said the water level in Medigadda barrage, that is designed for a gross storage of 16.17 tmc, touched 97.5 metres, against the FRL of 100 metres by 7 pm on Saturday.

The inflows from Pranahita river are in the order of some 65,000 cusecs and are expected to go up further, thanks to widespread rainfall in Gadchiroli area and rest of its catchment spread over Maharashtra. There is so far no contribution to the flood flow into Medigadda from the Godavari river so far.The backwater from the barrage which reaches the Kannepalli pumphouse through the 0.80 km stretch of approach canal by gravity is lifted to a height of 35.5 metres. All the 11 pumping units of the pumphouse, once put into simultaneous operation with 40 MW capacity each will be able to lift two TMC of water a day.

Officials celebrate

After traversing through the pressure main up to 1.53 km, water is emptied into the 13.5 km stretch of gravitational canal that connects the Kannepalli pumphouse of Medigadda barrage with the upper part of Annaram barrage. Kannepalli pumphouse has been constructed 91 metres above Godavari river.

The project officials who toiled day and night against all odds to complete the main barrages of Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages to draw from Godavari through reverse pumping mechanism celebrated the occasion.Kaleshwaram project was formally inaugurated by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on June 21. Water making its way from Medigadda barrage to Annaram barrage marks the first operation of the project and will be a great event in the irrigation history of the State, said the project engineer-in-chief.

The Annaram barrage has a gross storage capacity of 10.87 tmc. As per plans, once sufficient water is pumped from Medigadda, it is stored at Annaram, the water will once again be lifted and sent to Sundilla barrage and then on to Sripada Yellampalli project and finally to Mid-Manair project from where the water will be put to use for irrigating farmlands.