Work on the tunnel to ensure free flow of water on gravity from Ranganaiksagar to Mallannasagar is progressing briskly in this village, far-off from the public glare.
The tunnel being bored (excavated) 9 meters in diameter runs for a length of 9.18 km., starting at Gadi Charlapally village, and ending at Shivaru Venktapur. Though the agreement for the tunnel work was signed in 2008 between the then combined Andhra Pradesh Government and the consortium of four companies comprising Megha Engineering Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) and others, execution of the work commenced only in 2012 and with a deadline of 2019 for completion. However, after the formation of Telangana, the new government has ordered the consortium to complete the works by the end of 2017. The designed discharge of water from the tunnel is about 213 metre cubics per second. An amount of Rs.247 crore was already paid to the contractors for tunnel construction, out of the project cost of Rs.1,954 crore. Components of the project include construction of gravity canal, establishment of pump houses, surge pool, pump sets and motors, and connecting power supply cables.
Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao has been monitoring the progress of the work personally on day to day basis and he visited and examined the tunnel work on July 10. During the visit, he inaugurated a machine used for cementing the tunnel walls from inside. The tunnel being constructed as part of package 12 of the Kaleshwaram project will be in the inverted ‘D’ shape.
“We are making all efforts to complete the work before the deadline and bring water for Ranganaiksagar before the end of December 2017. Though there were some hiccups in land acquisition, we are sure people will cooperate in the larger interests of farmers,” Mr. Harish Rao told The Hindu . Mallannasagar reservoir is planned to come up in about 16,000 acres with storage capacity 50 TMC ft water. Once completed, it would cater to the irrigation needs in parts of Medak, Nizamabad, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy districts.
We are making all efforts to complete the work before the deadline and bring water for Ranganaiksagar before the end of December 2017.
T. Harish Rao,
Irrigation Minister.