The Telangana government has decided to revive the Pranahita-Shivella Lift Irrigation Scheme, which was originally launched under the YS Rajasekhar Reddy government in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2008 and later abandoned by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government, which redesignated it as the controversial Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday instructed the state irrigation department to initiate dialogue with the neighboring Maharashtra government to seek its approval to build a dam in Tumedihatti village of Kumuram Bhim district at a height of 150 metres.
Maharashtra Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said: “We will be writing to the Maharashtra government seeking consultation on the construction of the Tumedihatti Barrage, a key component of the Pranahita-Shivella lift irrigation system. We will also seek Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy’s support in initiating dialogue with Maharashtra.”
The Pranahita-Shivella Irrigation System was designed in 2008 to harness water from the Pranahita River, a tributary of the Godavari, to raise 160 metric tons (1,000 million cubic feet) by constructing a dam at Tumidhitti at a height of 152 meters and diverting the water to the existing Sripada Sagar Yellampalli project.
The project aims to irrigate 16,000 acres in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak and Ranga Reddy districts, while providing drinking water to surrounding areas and Hyderabad. The estimated cost of the project was $38,500 crores.
However, after the formation of Telangana, the previous BRS government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao in 2016 dropped the Tummidihatti project and decided to redesign the entire project as Kaleshwaram Irrigation Scheme by shifting the barrage to Medigadda downstream of the Godavari river.
The BRS government claimed that there is not enough water in Tumedihati. Secondly, construction of a barrage at Tumidhitti at a depth of 152 metres, will submerge hundreds of acres in Maharashtra leading to inter-state disputes.
Thus, the KCR government took over the Kaleshwaram project in 2016 by constructing three barrages – Medigada, Annaram and Sundila, which led to the cost of the project escalating from $38,000 crores to more $1 lakh crore. “The project was completed in 2021, but within two years, all the three barrages were damaged in the October 2023 floods,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
An official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said at Wednesday’s meeting that administration officials and irrigation experts had suggested that building the Tumidhihati barrage at a height of 150 meters would enable utilization of at least 100 metric tonnes of water and would be in the interests of Telangana.
“At the time of construction of the Pranahita-Shivella project, the state of Maharashtra had agreed to build the dam at Tumidhiti at a height of 148 metres, instead of 152 metres. We can convince the state of Maharashtra to build the dam at a height of 150 metres, as it will submerge at least 300 acres only,” the statement quoted the officials as saying.
In the power point presentation, the officials drew the attention of the Prime Minister to key aspects like the optimum height for construction of the Thomadihiti Barrage and the volume of water that can be used based on different construction heights.
The government has already spent nearly that, officials said $The Rs 11,000-crore Pranahita-Chevella project and canal construction have been completed in several areas. They explained that approximately 71.5 kilometers of canal works have already been carried out.
Revanth Reddy said that the construction of the dam at a height of 150 meters will not significantly affect the inundation of areas in Maharashtra, so the Telangana government is ready to provide compensation to the displaced people.
The official statement added that with regard to the restoration of the damaged Madigadah Barrage, the Prime Minister ordered the officials to expedite the completion of geo-testing of the barrage and complete the works before the start of the monsoon season.
