Decks for Purushothapatnam lift irrigation scheme cleared

: By giving administrative approval to the Purushothapatnam Lift Irrigation Scheme (PLIS), at an estimated cost of Rs.1, 638 crore, the State government has paved the way for calling tenders for two packages out of four to lift 3,500 cusecs of Godavari river water at Purushothapatnam in Seethanagaram mandal of East Godavari.

Ten pump sets will be set up on the left bank of the Godavari at 40.80 km point to facilitate lifting of 23.44 tmcft of water from the Polavaram left canal and take the same to the Yeleru reservoir and Visakhapatnam for irrigating 4 lakh acres and meeting the drinking water needs of the city. M. Venkateswara Rao, Engineer-in-Chief, Polavaram project, told The Hindu that with the Yeleru reservoir not getting adequate inflows in the last few years, distressed farmers had been making representations to public representatives.

Taking note of their concerns, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu during his earlier visit to Polavaram directed the officials to prepare a report on PLIS and complete the scheme in six months, he said.

Pithapuram MLA SVSN Varma said the ayacut under the Pithapuram and Yeleru branch canal was 43,000 acres and another 7,000 acres was cultivated unauthorised. Once the PLIS is completed, farmers will get water for the second crop.

The Tuni, Peddapuram, Prattipadu and Jaggampeta constituencies with an ayacut of 50,000 acres under the Yeleru reservoir will also benefit.

Report finalised

Meanwhile, Tuni Irrigation Circle Superintending Engineer S. Sugunakar Rao held a meeting with irrigation experts and finalised a report on two packages for the PLIS and submitted the same to the government.

According to the report, a survey was undertaken up to 10 km from Purushothapatnam to lay 5-metre diameter pipelines with a span of 100 m each for PLIS at 48.2 km point of Polavaram sluice. Water will be released at Gandikota which will flow by gravity to Pushkar lift scheme.