HYDERABAD: The State government on Saturday accorded administrative approval for the construction of Lingampalli reservoir with storage capacity of 10.78 tmc near Malkapur village in Chilpur mandal in Jangaon district. The estimated cost of the construction of reservoir is Rs 3227.10 crore.
According to the orders issued on Saturday, there is a very large command area in the erstwhile district of Warangal, where only lift irrigation is feasible. Most of these areas are backward and drought-prone. There is no permanent irrigation facility even though there is adequate rainfall at some places. These command areas, even though fertile, are mostly upland areas which cannot be served by gravity.
Hence, in order to provide dependable and permanent irrigation facilities, the only alternative left is to lift the water in stages near the vicinity of various patches of command areas. The transfer of water through lift schemes and conveying it to water deficient, upland regions of Telangana is thus of strategic importance and a pressing need towards a more equitable development of water resources for irrigation and other water requirements, the order stated.
The GLI Scheme does not have sufficient balancing reservoirs to meet the mismatched demand of irrigation, drinking water and for industrial purposes. In this backdrop, the State government sanctioned the lift irrigation scheme with an estimated cost of `3,316.80 crore. Tenders will be invited soon.