Water Boon For Telangana

The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project has the potential to create an engineering marvel and show the path for the country in coming up with innovative approaches to solve water woes, but it has its own set of dangers, says Srinath Rangarajan

The results of the recently held Assembly Elections in five states have hogged the limelight for many reasons. While the resurgence of Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh was the silver lining for that party, the state of Telangana told a completely different story. The incumbent political party, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) won in a resounding manner defeating Prajakutami, a united opposition front. The emphatic victory of TRS has made many analysts and thinkers across the country ponder over the reasons for the impressive electoral performance. Over the past four and a half years, TRS launched many social welfare schemes, irrigation projects and financial assistance programs. Out of all these, the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) is something unique in many aspects. It is being built at a cost of more than Rs 80,000 crore and is the costliest irrigation project undertaken by any state in India so far.

KLIP was originally conceived from the Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella Sujala Sravanthi project. This was originally supposed to utilise 160 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of allocated waters of the Godavari river. Hence, a barrage was proposed at a place called Tummidihatti near the Maharashtra border to divert 160 TMC of water and use it for irrigation

However, irrigation projects across rivers have at various stages, issues associated with them starting from the pre-construction stage to the post-commissioning phase. The Pranahita Chevella project is being built across river Godavari and this river originates in Maharashtra and has a catchment basin spreading across the states of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, it is anything but unnatural for this project to fall victim to the unceasing interstate water disputes between the states having stakes.

 

The Maharashtra Government repeatedly expressed concerns over fixing of the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) for constructing the Tummidihatti Barrage due to submergence of 3,786 acres of land in their territory. A considerable portion of this land constitutes the environmentally sensitive forest areas. Consequently, the FRL had to be reduced from +152.00 to +148.00 to reduce the submergence from 3,786 to 285 acres. This was mutually agreed upon by both the State Governments and a final agreement was reached upon to construct a barrage at Tummidihatti with FRL of +148.00 on August 23, 2016.

However, this is where the actual problems came to the surface. Detailed water availability studies carried out by the Government of Telangana and subsequently by the Central Water Commission (CWC), New Delhi found out that divertible flows at an FRL of +148.00 after deducting the upstream abstractions by Maharashtra would only be 44 TMC against the originally planned 160 TMC. Thus, CWC has advised the Government of Telangana to look again into the location of the barrages to match the demand and supply of water. This made the Telangana Government dependent on the area in the downstream side on the river Pranahita, the largest tributary of river Godavari.

It is in this context that an alternate location for constructing the barrage across Godavari was investigated by M/S WAPCOS Ltd by using the latest Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technique of surveying and the location was proposed at Medigadda near Kaleshwaram in the Jayashankar-Bhupalapally District of Telangana. The water availability by CWC at this location has been assessed as 284.3 TMC which comfortably meets the supply and demand. The original project of Pranahita Chevella has now been divided into two components namely BR Ambedkar Pranahita Project by constructing a barrage at Tummidihetti to facilitate irrigation and water supply to Adilabad District in Northern Telangana and the remaining segment is the KLIP.

 

Geographically, Telangana is situated on the Deccan Plateau at a higher elevation than the elevation at which the river Godavari flows in the state. Hence, irrigation through gravity canals alone is not a feasible option and lift irrigation should be employed. In the case of KLIP, the lift heights have become as high as 350 meters due to the need for redesigning the project because of the changed location at Medigadda. This change in location has also imposed the need to reverse the flow of the mighty Godavari across the Medigadda Barrage. The project now constitutes seven links and 28 packages, thus aiming to create a new ayacut of 18.25 lakh acres in 13 districts and stabilisation of existing ayacuts of 18.82 lakh acres. The project boasts of 1,531km long gravity pressure canals, 203km long tunnels, 98km long pressure pipelines, 1,832km long water supply routes, 22 lifts, 22 pumps, 14 reservoirs and 19 electrical power substations. The project has been racing against time with record concrete pours per day. KLIP witnessed reinforced cement concrete pour of 22,584 cum from December 22 to 25, 2018 on the spillway piers in Medigadda Barrage breaking all previous world records in concrete pour.

There are many other firsts and records in this project. The surge pools in ‘package six’, which are used to store water from tunnels and lift them upwards, are the largest in the world. The pumps installed in ‘package eight’ which have successfully completed the dry run, popularly called as the “Bahubali Motors”, have a capacity of 89.14 cumecs per second and require a whopping 139 MW power for operation, both of them being world records. Similarly, package 10 boasts of Asia’s biggest open surge pool. There are also state of the art gas grid substations which occupy very less space underground, compared to conventional substations. The civil works being completed also cater to the possible future expansion. Various allied and associated works like compensatory afforestation are also proceeding at a breakneck speed. All this has led to the actual cost of the project as worked out to be Rs 80,190 crore.

The KLIP is being seen as a solution to end the water woes of Telangana by providing uninterrupted water supply to agriculture for all the three seasons of the crop and providing drinking water to several villages, towns and cities of the state -planned  under another flagship project of Telangana “Mission Bhagiratha”.

 

The other takeaways include the timely and pragmatic resolution of interstate water disputes between Maharashtra and Telangana. Despite constitutional and statutory mechanisms, setting up of various river water boards and tribunals, many states across the country have not been successful in resolving contentious issues on the river water sharing for decades. Telangana and Maharashtra have shown the maturity and leadership to move forward in a rational way without harming the interests of each other. They showed the way forward for the country in this regard. Similarly, the CWC and Ministry of Water Resources have also been highly supportive in timely assessments and clearances. KLIP has received 10 statutory clearances from CWC within a period of nine months including cost appraisal, environmental and forest clearance — an unusual speed for administrative approvals. Despite TRS and BJP being at the opposite ends of the political spectrum, the proactive nature of CWC to the State Government displays a perfect example of cooperative federalism. The CWC has also appreciated the various technical aspects and the speed of execution of KLIP.

While everything seems to be going well, there are matters to be taken care of. The completion of works within the schedule timeline of June 2022 without any cost escalation remains a challenge. Technical issues may crop up during operations even if one loose end is left unaddressed. Apart from these, the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC), an activist group in the State, is claiming that the project does not necessitate a change in location from Tummidihatti to Medigadda, notwithstanding the CWC’s recommendations. They argue that enough water can be drawn through gravity canals from Tumidihetti. They even claim to have done a scientific analysis on water availability at Tummidihatti.

Apart from this, they are also contesting the other stated benefits of KLIP with respect to crop production, farmer welfare etc. While it is true that officials from Government and TRS spokespersons have been negating these claims of TJAC in Television debates, it is in the best interests of transparency and accountability, the Government of Telangana should come out with more technical and authentic clarification in this regard. And it is also true that some of the stated benefits can only be noticed once the whole project becomes operational. But the biggest issue is the operation and maintenance cost that would be needed to keep a project of this magnitude running. Some estimates by civil society activists peg it to be around Rs 15,000-20,000 crore per annum.

There are also fears that KLIP being a State Government project with enormous financial burden, can impair the State’s economy — with regards to its execution as well as subsequent annual maintenance costs. Probably it is for this reason, the Telangana Government is repeatedly seeking the status of National Project for KLIP. Time will only answer whether all these fears are indeed true or not.

 

KLIP, in due course of time has the potential to create an engineering marvel and show the path for the country to move ahead in coming up with bold and innovative approaches to solve water woes. This does not mean to say that there are no dangers lurking around. But the way in which the TRS Government headed by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao  have handled the situation instills more hope than fear.

Mission Kakatiya can do wonders, says Waterman

Hyderabad: Well-known water conservationist Rajendra Singh, known as the ‘Waterman of India’, said on Tuesday that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao deserved all the praise for opening new vistas of opportunity for the people of the new State on the water front, thanks to three flagship programmes Mission Kakatiya, Mission Bhagiratha and the Kaleshwaram project.

 

Addressing a batch of trainee engineers at the Water and Land Management Training and Research Institute (Walamtari) here, he said a great deal of good work was done under Mission Kakatiya project. “I want to congratulate the Chief Minister as the volume of work done so far under the three programmes is without doubt significantly higher when compared to any other State in the country. So is the case with budgetary allocations,” he said.

“When I received the Stockholm Water Prize, I was asked whether there was any initiative from the government side for water conservation in India. I proudly acknowledged the service rendered by Chandrashekhar Rao through Mission Kakatiya. I celebrated by birthday at one of the tanks rejuvenated under Mission Bhagiratha programme in the State,” he said.

Community role

“What I would like to advocate for the implementation of Phase V of Mission Kakatiya is that it should have total community participation. In the initial phases of the programme, the volume of work involved was quite huge. The tanks were neglected for four to five decades and we cannot expect it to be free from contractors because of work involved was on a large scale,” Rajendra Singh said.

Now that only tanks of smaller sizes with ayacut of each one ranging from ten to less than 100 acres are involved in  the fifth phase of the programme, it can be implemented restricting it totally to the participation of the farmers, he said, adding that there need not be any role for contractors who only think of profits rather than the net benefit for the users, especially the farmers. “It will give the farmers a great deal of honour as well as a sense of belonging,” he stressed.

Rajendra Singh said Mission Kakatiya can be shaped into the best model of community-driven, decentralised and sustainable water management model in the world. The desilting of tanks has given an opportunity for  application of tank bed soil to farmlands, adding to their fertility as well as yields, he pointed out.

‘Good beginning’

Rajendra Singh said Mission Bhagiratha was a good beginning in the direction of providing people with safe drinking water by developing a watergrid and integrating water sources from both Krishna and Godavari basins. “When 17,000 tmc of water flows waste into the sea, there is nothing wrong in making use of some 90 tmc of it to quench the thirst of the people in the water-starved State,” he said.

 

Stating that Kaleshwaram project will help revive the natural flow of the river in its driest stretches, he said the natural flow of a river has to be ensured as this will give life to a river. At the same time, the sea too has a right on the river flow as it is with the case of mankind. He exuded confidence that Kaleshwaram would add to the life of the river unlike other projects  that killed the rivers.

Congress questions KCR's silence on Union Budget

Hyderabad: The Congress party has questioned the silence of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao over injustice done to Telangana State in the Interim Union Budget 2019-20.

 

"KCR is among a few Chief Ministers who did not express their views directly on the BJP Government's interim budget. A few TRS leaders issued formal statements while the Chief Minister himself chose to remain silent," alleged Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy in a media statement on Monday. He said KCR should have addressed a press conference immediately after the presentation of interim budget on 1st February. But the Chief Minister not only maintained silence, but making serious attempts to divert people's attention to other issues, he alleged.

Gudur Narayana Reddy demanded that the Chief Minister adopt a 'loud tone' from the present 'whispering tone' in speaking against Prime Minister Narender Modi and his government. "Telangana did not get its due share in all the Union Budgets presented by the BJP Government. None of the promises made with Telangana in Andhra Pradesh Reorganistaion Act have been fulfilled. Railway Coach Factory at Qazipet, Steel Plant at Bayyaram or other Central projects remained a non-starter. Despite the recommendation by the NITI Ayog, Telangana was denied funds for Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya and Kaleshwaram project. But KCR never gathered courage to register strong protest against the Modi Government," he said.

The Congress leader said that TRS leaders were feeling elated by claiming that the Centre has copied its Rythu Bandhu scheme by offering investment support to farmers. He said that the Congress party has pointed out on several occasions that the Rythu Bandhu scheme itself was not comprehensive and does not cover all farmers, especially the tenant farmers. Further, he said that the Central Government's proposed income support scheme promising Rs. 6,000 to farmers holding less than 5 acres of land was erratic and it could be well described as 'Too Little and Too Late'. He said the way KCR Govt tried to lure farmers by launching Rythu Bandhu scheme a few months before Assembly elections, Modi Govt too introduced the scheme with less than three months left for General Elections. He said if both TRS and BJP Governments were sincere towards farmers, then they would launched this schemes in the first or second year of their regimes.

 

Gudur Narayana Reddy said that the KCR's silence against the Centre clearly shows that he was pro-Modi and pro-BJP. He dared KCR to hold protest against the BJP Government for the injustices it did with Telangana during the last five years. He demanded that KCR present a statistical report on year-wise funds released by the Centre as against the demand made by the Telangana Government.

Mega concrete pour at Medigadda

Kaleshwaram Project Chief Engineer N Venkateshwarlu told 'Telangana Today' that there would be another 10,000 cubic metres of the concrete pour from 8 am on Saturday to 8 am on Sunday.

Hyderabad: The mega concrete pour at Medigadda barrage of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), which turned out to be a continuing saga, has set an all time record. Commenced at 8 am on December 22, the men and machines that have been engaged in exercise continued to work in shifts. The Kaleshwaram Project Chief Engineer N Venkateswarlu informed Telangana Today that 90,055 cubic metres of Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) was laid on the Medigadda barrage spill way and its piers. One more day of work would take it to one lakh cubic metres, which is a record in itself.

 

He said 16,722 cubic metres of concrete pour was done on the first day. On an average, about 7,000-8,000 cubic metres of concrete pour was being done every day. He explained that over lakh cubic metres of concrete pour was yet to be done on the barrage, one of the six important works need to be completed by March 2019 to commission the project for giving water to the ayacut from next kharif. As desired by the Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao implementation of the project works has been put on fast track. Undeterred by the cold wave sweeping across the State, men and machines have been carrying out their work even under flood lights.

Referring to a similar exercise taken up by the AP irrigation authorities at Polavarm project eying entry into Guinness Book of World Records, he said they could be aiming at record for maximum concrete pour in 24 hours. At Kaleshwaram, it will be a continuous process till the remaining four lakh cubic metres of concrete pour was completed. It may take less than a month to complete the concrete work. “We are also awaiting observers of the Guinness Book of World Records. With a deployment of 5000 men and engineers on the work site, we have ample scope to break every record in the concrete laying history,” he asserted.

A total of 4,825 engineers and workers toiled for 72 hours to create a world record in non-stop concrete pouring at the Medigadda barrage, a key component of the prestigious Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) that is expected to change the landscape of Telangana State.

Project Chief Engineer N Venkateswarlu told Telangana Today on Tuesday that 25,583 cubic metres of Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) was poured continuously to construct the spillway and piers at the Medigadda barrage, starting 8 am on Saturday and ending at 8 am on Tuesday. Medigadda barrage is one of the three key structures being constructed as part of the KLIS to lift 2 tmc of water a day from the Godavari river.

 

 The previous record was held by a Dubai-based engineering company which completed 21,580 cubic metres of concrete pour over a period of 35 hours and 19 minutes for a raft foundation laid for a residential complex from May 18 to 20 in 2017. The Kaleshwaram project authorities who were successful in breaking this record, however, should be a disappointed lot since they had not alerted the officials of the Guinness Book of World Records to document the event. But, they are confident of getting into the record books with yet another attempt at mega concrete pouring in the near future.

The Medigadda barrage, coming up with 85 crest gates and 16.17 tmc of water storage, will support an integrated irrigation system intended to extend irrigation to 18,50,000 acres of new ayacut and stabilizing almost the same extent of existing ayacut under Sriramsagar and other irrigation projects. The mega effort, an unplanned event, was spurred by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who after a marathon review meeting with irrigation department officials last week, directed them to step up the pace of works in various irrigation projects across the State. As desired by him, the pace of works was stepped up in different packages of KLIS simultaneously.

The concrete laying that started routinely on the spillway and piers of the Medigadda barrage at 8 am on Saturday achieved 16,722 cubic metres by 8 am on Sunday, which in itself was considered as the second highest work turnout in concrete laying. Another 4,745 cubic metre of concrete was laid on the second day and 4,177 cubic metres on the third day ending at 8 am on Tuesday. The network turnout was 21,100 cubic metres in 42 hours, 22,666 cubic metres in 62 hours and 25,583 cubic metres in 72 hours.

The Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for Medigadda barrage on May 2, 2016. The barrage, as well as the pump houses, would be ready by March 2019. The State government is keen on giving water from the lift irrigation scheme to the ayacut from the next Kharif season.

KCR vows to secure national project tag for Kaleshwaram

Hyderabad: Settling issues concerning mega TS irrigation projects as well as getting them cleared on a mission mode and securing for the prestigious Kaleshwaram ‘national project’ status top the immediate agenda of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

 

Having succeeded in getting environmental and forest clearances for his two pet multi-crore major lift irrigation schemes -- Sita Rama and Palamuru Rangareddy projects, in just a month’s time, the Chief Minister has confidently initiated fresh moves to obtain national project status for Telangana’s lifeline - Kaleshwaram Project taken up at a whopping cost of Rs 70,000 crore and being executed with remarkable speed.

It is understood that KCR is bent upon achieving this goal before the Election Commission issues notification for the General Election.  

Soon after assuming charge on December 13 as the Chief Minister for the second consecutive term, the TRS supremo declared that his government would accord top priority to the completion of ongoing irrigation projects, on which the State has already spent more than Rs 70, 000 crore over the last five years. 

He also embarked on "Project Baata" to track the works in progress in the case of all projects. Recently, KCR, accompanied by top officials of the State Irrigation Department, visited Kaleshwaram and held a series of reviews with irrigation experts to address core issues and remove hurdles, if any.   A time-bound action plan to complete the works on fast track and provide irrigation facility from Kaleshwaram in the next Kharif is being prepared.

Considering that Kaleshwaram already has all requisite permissions, including environmental clearances and Central Water Commission nod, and given the fact that works are in full swing at the project site, KCR is of the considered view that securing national project status for it would be a cinch.

Besides, Kaleshwaram as a national project would translate to a big relief to the State, which is set to face financial challenges due to the substantial additional expenditure entailed by much-watched welfare schemes, mainly Rythu Bandhu and double of pensions from the new financial year 2019-20.

 

Top officials said that the Rythu Bandhu (Rs 15,000 crore) and enhanced pensions (Rs 5,000 crore, including all pensions) alone will take away nearly 30 per cent of the plan expenditure from this year. Therefore, the government would have to find alternative avenues to meet the additional capital expenditure, mainly the completion of irrigation projects.  The State government has already projected to spend Rs 1.70 lakh crore on the completion of all ongoing irrigation projects in five years.

It is in this context that KCR has decided to spearhead the demand to consider Kaleshwaram as a national project. Hence, during his recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he once again submitted a memoranda to him and urged the Centre to provide a grant of Rs 20,000 crore to Kaleshwaram as immediate relief so that the State could get a big financial relief from mounting debts and capital expenditure.

Officials said that KCR is unhappy over the Centre's delay in taking a decision to accord national project status to Kaleshwaram.  He has asked chief secretary SK Joshi to pursue the issue with the ministries concerned at Centre.  He is likely to personally meet some central leaders over the issue in February after completing the formation of cabinet. If the Centre agrees to his demand and makes an announcement, successive governments will have no option but to fund the project, sources said.

Irrigation project on Godavari river set to raise Telangana’s debt

The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, being constructed on the Godavari river in Telangana, is set to escalate the mounting debt of the state further with the government going in for massive borrowings to complete the project, as Delhi has turned a deaf ear to its plea for central assistance.

With an estimated project cost of Rs 80,000 crore, Kaleshwaram is the costliest lift irrigation project in the country, involving the construction of three barrages, reverse pumping of water from Godavari into three major reservoirs and diverting it into a huge and complex system of reservoirs, water tunnels, pipelines and canals.

As per the Detailed Project Report, the Kaleshwaram project will utilise nearly 200 thousand million cubic feet (tmc) of Godavari river water, including 134 tmc to irrigate 18.25 lakh acres, another 34.5 tmc ft for stabilisation of already irrigated area of six lakh acres, 10 tmc towards drinking water and 16 tmc for industrial purposes.

The Telangana government has taken up such a massive project with its own financial resources, besides borrowing heavily from various financial institutions. So far, the government has spent over Rs 40,000 crore on the project, including borrowings of Rs 20,550 crore from various commercial banks, besides another Rs 12,067 crore from the Power Finance Corporation (PFC). The funding is being released in tune with the progress of the project works.

 

On Wednesday, the government approved a proposal to borrow another Rs 8,685 crore from the PFC, taking the overall debt component of the Kaleshwaram project’s funding to more than Rs 40,000 crore. “The latest borrowing from PFC is meant for funding mostly the power component of the lift irrigation scheme, as it involves erection of various electric pumps and construction of sub-stations,” Sridhar Deshpande, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said.

Deshpande said the project of such a gigantic magnitude would need liberal funding from the Centre, but so far, it had not received a penny despite repeated representations from the state government.

According to him, the first phase of the project will be completed by April or May.

Such a huge borrowing would add to the debt burden of the state government. As per the budgetary figures, the outstanding borrowings of the state went up from Rs 70,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 1.7 lakh crore in 2017-18 and is expected touch Rs 2 lakh crore by 2018-19. “This indiscriminate borrowing in the name of Kaleshwaram is not a healthy sign. The state requires another Rs 13,000 crore for annual operations and maintenance cost. Right from the beginning, we have been telling that the cost-benefit ratio of the project is very less. In the name of redesigning [the project], the TRS government escalated the cost from Rs 34,000 crore to ₹80,000 crore just to benefit contractors,” alleged former minister, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, the previous head of the Forum for Utilisation of Godavari Waters.

Deshpande, however, said the burden on the state would come down if the Centre declares Kaleshwaram as a national project with 100% funding. “The chief minister is hopeful of achieving national project status to it, once there is a favourable government at the Centre after next elections,” he said.

Telangana BJP official spokesman, Krishna Sagar Rao, refuted the TRS government’s allegations that the Centre had turned down state’s pleas for funding the Kaleshwaram project.

“KCR just submitted some frivolous letters to the Prime Minister asking for funds. He did not follow the due procedure of submitting detailed project reports to the Centre,” he said.

In July 2018, Union minister of state for water resources, Arjun Ram Meghwal, told Rajya Sabha in reply to a question from Congress MP, T Subbarami Reddy, that the Central Water Commission had not received any proposal from the Telangana state government seeking financial assistance for the Kaleshwaram project.”

Kaleshwaram project an engineering marvel: KTR

Terming the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project (KLIP) as an engineering marvel in the country, TRS working president and Sircilla legislator K. Taraka Rama Rao was all praise for the engineers who are working round the clock for early completion of the project to provide irrigation sources to the upland regions.

Mr. Rama Rao, along with TSCAB chairman K Ravinder Rao, irrigation officials and Joint Collector Yasmeen Basha inspected the KLIP package 9 works in Malkapet village of Konaraopeta mandal on Monday. On this occasion, he inspected the tunnel works, surge pool and construction of Malkapet reservoir works.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that Pranahita-Chevella was redesigned to ensure that more water was stored in various projects. The Pranahita-Chevella was designed to store only 11 tmcs of water. But, the KLIP was designed to store 141 tmcs of water with various barrages to ensure irrigation facilities to 1.25 crore acres in the State, he stated.

 

He said that the works at package-9 were progressing at a brisk pace for the completion of remaining one kilometre length tunnel, pump houses and reservoir. He said that they were taking all measures to link the KLIP with the small and minor irrigation projects to provide irrigation sources in all the villages.

Stating that KLIP was an asset to the upland Rajanna-Sircilla, he said that the completion of KLIP would ensure irrigation to two crops in the district. He said that the State government was according top priority for the irrigation sector, which was neglected in the integrated AP, by allocating ₹ 25,000 per year in the budget. He also said that they were suitably rehabilitating the project oustees of the KLIP.