For five days the pumps of Mallannasagar have been running round-the-clock pumping Godavari water from Tukkapur pump house to the 50 tmcft capacity reservoir. Though all the eight pump sets were tested from the wee hours of August 22, after Engineer- In- Chief of the Kaleswaram Project Hari Ram formally switched on the pumps, as on Friday six pumps are pumping water without a hitch.
Officials are reported to have planned to fill the reservoir to maximum permissible limit of 10 tmcft. The Chief Minister will switch on the pumps once again to mark the formal inauguration.
Mallannasagar — a dream of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao — was realised with the ‘forcible sacrifice’ of some 4,500 families from 14 villages in Toguta and Kondapaka mandals. The villages that are disappearing slowly in Godavari water include — Brahmana Banjerpally, Rampur, Vaddera Colony, Lakshmapur, Etigaddakishtapur, Tirumalagiri, Mogilicheruvu tanda, Vemulaghat, Turkabanjerpally, Pallepahad, Pallepahad tanda and Nagaram in Toguta mandal and Erravalli and Singaram in Kondapaka mandal.
The Mallannasagar, which was part of Pranahita-Chevella project initiated by late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy in the combined Andhra Pradesh, was initially proposed at Tadakapally with 1.5 tmcft. After formation of Telangana under the leadership of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao the irrigation projects were redesigned. The capacaity of the reservoir was increased from 1.5 tmcft and later increased to 20 tmcft then to 30 tmcft and finally 50 tmcft. Lands in Tukkapur and Toguta are also facing submergence.
Oustees of all these villages were promised to be relocated at Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) Colony constructed at Mutrajpally near Gajwel and some 2,400 houses have already been built and the remaining families are being allotted 250 square yard plots. The allocation of plots is completed for only some families.
Last Saturday, the day before the pumps were tested, many families were forcibly vacated from submergence villages and some oustees have alleged that their belongings were irreparably damaged.
“There is a confusion over the number families displaced by Mallannasagar. Earlier, the officials put the figure at 6,500, however now they have reduced the number to 4,500. It appears they are trying to reduce the number of oustees eligible for the benefits like houses or sites,” said one of the oustees on condition of anonymity.
