Two Telangana irrigation schemes yet to come into operation
Telangana's major lift irrigation projects, Kaleshwaram and Palamuru-Rangareddy, costing over ₹1.25 lakh crore, have failed to justify expenses, state reports reveal.
Two major lift irrigation projects, taken up by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in Telangana at a cost of more than ₹1.25 lakh crore in the last 10 years, have failed to justify the expenditure incurred on them, according to the reports tabled by the present Congress government, during the budget session of the state assembly session.
While the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project (KLIP), one of the largest lift irrigation projects of the world built on Godavari river at a cost of ₹93,872 crore, provided irrigation to only 98,590 acres, the Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme (PRLIS) being built on Krishna river at an estimate of ₹35,200 crore, is yet to come into operation even after nine years despite incurring an expenditure of ₹31,423 crore till date, the report stated on August 2.
In a report tabled in the state assembly on July 30, state irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy revealed that the previous government had spent huge amounts on the irrigation sector by indulging in heavy borrowings, but they did not come into full utility.
“With regard to Kaleshwaram project, the then government had taken up construction of reservoirs, barrages, pump houses and power sub-stations but had not focussed on completing canals and distributaries which were essential to irrigate the fields,” the minister said.
Even after spending such a huge amount, the barrages of Kaleshwaram project, particularly the Medigadda barrage in Jayashankar Bhupalpally village, suffered major damages during the October 2023 floods. As a result of which the entire project has become defunct for the last two seasons and there are no hopes of reviving the project in the near future.
“The National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) engineers have studied the damages and warned the government against storing the water in the reservoirs. Therefore, we were forced to open all the gates of the three barrages – Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla – to release the water to the downstream of Godavari, so that there would be no pressure on the barrages,” the minister said.
The report presented by Reddy said while there was little benefit from Kaleshwaram project despite spending such a huge amount, the state government was bearing the brunt of the loan taken by the BRS government for the project. “We are forced to repay ₹16,000 crore towards interest and principal per year for the next five years,” he said.
A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General tabled in the state assembly in February this year, disclosed that the state government had obtained an aggregate loan amount of ₹87,449.15 crore from various financial institutions, which included an amount of ₹11.220.22 crore of interest during construction, at an interest rate ranging from 7.8% to 10.9%.
The CAG estimated that once the project would become fully operational, the requirement of funds for operation of Kaleshwaram project including debt servicing in the coming years will be ₹25,109,41 crore.
Palamuru-Rangareddy lift scheme
Similarly, the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS), foundation for which was laid by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) at Kollapur in Nagarkurnool district in June 2015, also did not come into utilisation.
The PRLIS envisages lifting water from the foreshore of Srisailam reservoir at Yellure village of Kollapur block in Nagarkurnool district to the K P Laxmidevipally reservoir of Kondurg block in Rangareddy district with 5 stage lifting and then utilising water by gravity.
It proposes to irrigate around 12,00,000 acres in Mahabubnagar, Narayanpet, Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Nagarkurnool and Nalgonda, besides providing drinking water to en route villages and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and also for industrial use.
On September 16, 2023, ahead of the November 30 assembly elections in the state, KCR dedicated the PRSLIS to the nation by switching on the motor at the first pump house to lift water from the river into the intake well of the project at Narlapur village, but soon after the event, the project works came to a halt.
According to the report tabled in the state assembly by the irrigation minister, it would take another five years to complete the project by spending ₹ 6,000 crore every year.
“As of now, the government had spent ₹31,423 crore. But according to the latest estimates, it would require another ₹27,000 crore to complete the project. So, the overall project cost would be more than ₹58,000 crore,” the minister said.