HYDERABAD: For years to come, Kaleshwaram will remain a testimony of Telangana’s gift to the nation which is struggling to grow up the GDP ladder.
The project, the brainchild of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, is expected to turn the parched and barren outback of Telangana into a verdant land of milk and honey. No more wastelands and no more thirsty throats.
In just three years, the impossible has become possible. The engineering marvel - Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) - will be inaugurated by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday at Medigadda.
Rao will also switch on the first motor at Kannepally. This is not only the beginning of a new chapter in Telangana but also the beginning of a new book altogether indeed.
The first book, the over decade-long movement for Telangana State was over. Now, the second book in the history of Telangana - the development- through irrigation will commence from this Kharif season with the inauguration of Kaleshwaram.
One of the main reasons for the separate Telangana statehood agitation is to get State’s legitimate share in river waters. However, Telangana is geographically located 100 metres above the sea level and could not construct a dam across the Godavari to tap water. If a huge dam was constructed, almost half of the Telangana and neighbouring Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh will be submerged. Thus, the TRS government conceptualised the lift irrigation scheme.
Chandrasekhar Rao is responsible for conceiving, designing and execution of Kaleshwaram, which is now widely considered as “world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation scheme”. “I am the achiever,” the Chief Minister claimed with a sense of pride recently at a news conference.
State government to perform Rigveda 'homam'
The State government is also conducting 'homams' at Medigadda and Kannepally pump house on Friday. According to sources, the priests will perform “Jalasaya Prathistanga Homam” by invoking Rigveda mantras. The 'homam' is intended to pray mother Godavari to bless its children with plentiful of water.