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Lalita Iyer
Lalita Iyer

HYDERABAD

KCR to revive Sriram Sagar Project

kcr-telangana (File) Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao | Agencies

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, on Thursday, reminisced at a public meeting that he had been pained to find the Sriram Sagar project in total disrepair way back in 1996. He went on to say that the special attention paid to the Nagarjuna Sagar project was missing where Sriram Sagar and other Telangana projects were concerned.

“The very day I made it clear to the friends who had accompanied me to the project site that development would remain a far cry in Telangana as long as we remained under the Seemandhra rulers,” he recalled.

After laying a foundation stone for the Rs. 10,000 crore scheme, he assured farmers in North Telangana districts that the Sriram Sagar project, which was “given up for dead by the erstwhile Seemandhra rulers” in the undivided State, would be revived in less than a year.

The project for which the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone in 1963, was inaugurated by his daughter and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi later, without giving enough water to the people in the State. KCR promised that the Lakshmi Canal and Saraswathi canal of the project would be back in their original state in record time. By next June or July, the Sriram Sagar project will be filled with Godavari water. By February next, the project storage would be built up to 90tmc. The SRSP flood flow canal would never go dry here after, KCR announced to the public.

The mighty Godavari flows from Maharashtra to Telangana and then to Andhra Pradesh, where it finally merges into the sea. But the current scenario is such that thanks to the number of dams built over the Godavari in the upper riparian Maharashtra region and the lack of good rains, the inflow into the Telangana region, especially in the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) has been pathetic.

The SRSP constructed across Godavari near Pochampad in Nizamabad district is the lifeline for North Telangana region. Lack of rain and water in flow and the accumulation of silt has brought the project’s original storage capacity of 112 tmc ft of water to come down to around 80 tmc ft. Though the SRSP Phase-I was envisaged to address the irrigation needs of 9.68 lakh acres, the project never got past the 5 lakh acres mark since its inauguration in 1978.

Now the state government plans to divert the waters drawn from the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) to Yellampalli reservoir and flood flow canal (FFC) within 15 months. If all goes well with the proposed plan then 60tmc-ft of water will be pumped to SRSP through flood flow canal (FFC) using three lifts. This would stabilise at least 5 lakh acres of ayacut under the SRSP.

KCR told the crowds that people had no proper understanding about the SRSP flood flow canal. Once the revival scheme was completed, the 110km stretch of the flood flow canal will have live water storage all year round. It would support promotion of aquatic life and pisciculture. The picturesque locales of the project would be a visual treat and will help promote tourism as well, he added.

The KLIP was originally envisaged to fill the Mid and Lower Manair dams, besides other proposed reservoirs such as Mallannasagar with the waters drawn from Medigadda, Annaram, Sundilla and Yellampally barrages.

However, the government has decided to divert the waters also to SRSP. The KLIP sources water from the downstream of Kaleshwaram confluence where Pranahitha merges with Godavari river. Even though Godavari receives insufficient inflows, the waters flown in from Pranahitha are sufficient for the KLIP.

The government plans to tackle the dwindling water flow in Godavari with the massive retro-walk plan of Godavari waters to replenish and revive Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP). The revival project which is estimated at Rs 1,067 crore includes the costs of three lifts and land acquisition to the extent of 40 acres.

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Topics : #Telangana

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