The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) in the Central Water Commission (CWC) on Friday gave clearance to Gudem Lift Irrigation Scheme in Mancherial district to supplement water to the tail-end ayacut of Kaddam Narayana Reddy project and Modikunta Vagu medium irrigation project in Mulugu district.
Chaired by Secretary in the Ministry of Jal Shakti Pankaj Kumar, the meeting was attended by Special Secretary in the Department of Water Resources Debashree Mukherjee, CWC Chairman Kushvinder Vohra, Chief Engineers concerned in CWC and officers in the related Central Government departments besides authorities from Telangana.
Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Rajat Kumar, Engineers-in-Chief C. Muralidhar and B. Hariram, Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister Sridhar Rao Deshpande and Chief Engineers G. Srinivas Reddy (Mancherial) and B. Vijaya Bhaskar Rao (Mulugu) attended the meeting and presented information sought by TAC for getting the clearance for two projects.
According to irrigation authorities, Gudem LIS was planned to meet irrigation needs of the tail-end ayacut of about 30,000 acres under Kaddam Narayan Reddy project Left Flank main canal as the water holding capacity of Kaddam has come down to 4.7 tmc ft from 7.6 tmc ft over the years. It draws 3 tmc ft of water from the left flank of Godavari river in the foreshore of Yellampally project.
The LIS was commissioned in 2015 itself, but has been facing problems in lifting water with the help of two vertical turbine pumps due to bursting of the pressure main (pipelines) that runs for a little over 12 km from Gudem village in Dandepally mandal to supply water to distributaries for the ayacut in 43 villages of Danadepally, Luxettipet and Hazipur mandals. Sanctioned in 2008, it was completed at a cost of ₹138.45 crore.
On Modikunta Vagu project, the irrigation authorities said it was sanctioned in 2005 to irrigate 13,600 acres and drinking water supply to 35 villages by utilising 2.047 tmc ft water. However, works on it did not make much headway till 2018-19. As a result, the cost went up from ₹124 crore to ₹700 crore in 2021. It involves 1,259-meter earthen da and 92-meter spillway with six radial crest gates across Modikunta Vagu, a tributary of Godavari.
