Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday dedicated to the nation the Pulichantala project (named after Dr. K. L Rao ) across the Krishna here on Saturday.
Accompanied by Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar, Major Irrigation Minister G. Sudarshana Reddy and Agriculture Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, the Chief Minister unveiled a pylon at the left bank before leaving for Vijayawada to address a public meeting in connection with the event.
He switched on power supply for lifting radial gates as water gushed out. Farmers from Atchampet and Bellamkonda mandals downstream of the project were stopped by the police during the inauguration but were later allowed.
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The inauguration of the project was a dream come true for farmers of Krishna Delta system as it has been designed to stabilise 13.08 lakh acres of ayacut besides generating 120 MW of power in the hydel unit located in Vajinipalli village in Nalgonda district.
It was in 1911 that Colonel Ellis proposed that an irrigation project could be built upstream of Prakasam Barrage but the then British Government did not evince interest. Later, Muktyala Zamindar Raja Vasireddy Ramakrishna Maheswara Prasad took up the gauntlet and with the help of K.L Rao placed the project back on tracks.
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N.T Rama Rao, as a Chief Minister, initiated the Pulichintala Investigation Circles and secured all clearances. But his successor N. Chandrababu Naidu did not show any interest and until Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy took it up again in 2004.
The dam has a catchment area of 20,028 k.m and has been designed for a maximum flood discharge of 20,37,656 Cusecs. The gross storage of the reservoir is 45.77 tmcft of which 36.23 tmcft is live storage.