The ambitious plan of the State government to bring Godavari water back to Sriramsagar Project under the reverse pumping system has become a reality with the water from Kaleshwaram touching the Flood Flow Canal gates at the dam on Monday night.
Amid thunderous applause from a large number of people gathered on the SRSP bund, Minister for Roads and Buildings V. Prashanth Reddy performed puja to the Godavari waters from Kaleshwaram, throwing flowers from the dam down into the flood flow canal, here on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that he had spent several sleepless nights worrying whether the Kaleshwaram water could come to SRSP through reverse pumping system. “Contrary to my fears, now Godavari water is joining the SRSP arriving in reverse direction from 200 km away. I thank the Chief Minister for making it a reality. When the Kaleshwaram project was designed for giving water to one crore acres nobody believed it. But, now the results can be seen,” he added.
Date to be fixed
Mr. Reddy said that under the rejuvenation scheme about 1.30 lakh acres in his Balkonda constituency will get water. He, meanwhile, did not reveal when the water that was building up in the FFC would be let into the reservoir. Officials said that water will be allowed into the SRSP only when the Chief Minister officially inaugurates at any one point of the FFC.
Since the total six gates of the FFC remained closed, water is getting built up for a long distance in the canal. If the gates are opened it would enter the reservoir through gravity. It reached through FFC travelling from Nandi, Gayatri, Rampur and Rameswarapally Pump Houses from Yellampally reservoir. It travelled 102 km in the FFC to reach the SRSP.
To let the water enter the reservoir it needs to be stored at least three to four metres high in the FFC at Zero Point, i.e, at Mupkal Pump House. Now it is one to two feet high in the canal. “Hence, we are filling the flood flow canal first. However, it touched the FFC gates at the dam,” Executive Engineer M. Sudhakiran said.
If the Kaleshwaram water is not immediately sent into the reservoir, tanks on the left side of the SRSP Restoration Scheme, undertaken with an estimated outlay of ₹1,747 crore, will be filled first.
The scheme for which the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao laid foundation in August 2017 was completed within a record time of two years.
The idea behind the scheme is that since plenty of water is available in the Godavari at Kaleshwaram during monsoon and inflows into the SRSP have reduced for some time now, about 60 tmcft can be lifted and brought back to the project during flood time from Kaleshwaram.
